


Beef on Target Lock

by Bang Bang Beef Keef (kelamorrison)



Series: Beef Keef and Sharpshooter [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Blow Jobs, Canon Universe, Gay Disaster Keith (Voltron), Hand Jobs, Keith and Lance bang at the Garrison, Keith bottoms, Klance smut, Lance is 18, Lance is mildly dom, M/M, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, You can't convince me this didn't happen, canon Allurance moments sorry, klance, lance tops, season seven canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-12 04:29:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16866157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelamorrison/pseuds/Bang%20Bang%20Beef%20Keef
Summary: Keith and Lance were secretly hot and heavy for two movements during their journey home, but fell apart almost as quickly as they got together. Back on Earth they discover they must reorient their relationship to one another for the sake of the team. Letting go proves difficult when the mind knows it's over, but the heart and the body still desire closeness. A major backslide happens when Keith fulfills his promise to give Lance all of his firsts.





	1. Keith's Journey Within Part I

**Author's Note:**

> The is the third work in the series Beef Keef and Sharpshooter. I recommend starting with the first part, Unload Sharpshooter https://archiveofourown.org/works/16289204/chapters/38095973 but if you'd rather start here and enjoy it for what it is, that's cool too!
> 
> The first two chapters of with work are a retelling of the episode The Journey Within, but with the context of Keith dealing with his heartbreak over losing Lance. I urge you to re-watch this episode (after you read this) with this context in mind because it works sooooooooo well. It is a Klance heavy episode if you look at it the right away XD

Keith overslept for the first time on the journey. His internal clock had never let him down before and it was a surprise to wake up to hear chatter over the comlink as the others were already up for the day. It was worse remembering why he was so exhausted. Because he’d stayed up late crying over the lost Blade members, over saying goodbye to his mother, and… over Lance…

The ache in his chest was overpowering and kept him lying still for several minutes, trying to control his breathing. Lance had taught him how to calm himself down when he was having a panic attack, but this wasn’t panic. This was the deep ache of breaking up with the one he most loved. There was no recovering from this ill feeling. There was only enduring it.

Part of him wanted to feel bitter towards Lance for breaking up with him on the same day he endured so much loss, but he knew it wasn’t Lance’s design. Things had simply to come a head all at once. Keith couldn’t handle knowing Lance had been in love with Allura and Lance couldn’t handle the three thousand different ways in which he’d named that Keith had failed him. Meanwhile, Allura had only failed Lance in exactly one way, by not returning his feelings. Allura was an idiot.

“Everyone to their stations,” said Keith as he sat down in Black’s pilot seat. Kosmo trotted in behind him and lay down, seeming to sense Keith needed company today. Normally he’d pop around to visit everyone and get pets first thing, but he knew Keith’s moods well and knew when he needed support.

“Well, look who decided to finally join us,” sassed Lance. His casual joshing threw Keith for a loop. But of course Lance was going to act like everything was perfectly normal. He’d managed to act like they were nothing more than competitive friends for the whole two movements they’d been sleeping together, Lance had his act perfected. Keith would do the same.

“Took a page from your book, Lance, and arrived late to the party.”

“Hey! The party doesn’t start until I walk in.” It was cute and Keith almost smiled until he remembered they were over and those cute comments weren’t for his amusement. They were for everyone else to think of him as charming and adorable.

“You had quite the day yesterday,” said Shiro, his voice so kind and reassuring. “No one blames you for needing some extra rest this morning.” Keith had a brief moment of panic thinking Shiro was saying they all knew about his breakup the night before, but no, he meant the business with Kolivan and the fallen Blade members.

“Catch me up. What did I miss?” asked Keith.

“I’m teaching Romelle Rock Paper Scissor,” said Lance. “She’s bad at it.”

“Why would paper defeat rock?” groaned Romelle. “It makes no sense!” So Lance had immediately invited a girl over to his Lion to hangout with him. Typical. “How can paper smother rock? Why kind of paper do they have on Earth? Is it made of steel?”

“No, it’s made of paper. Duh.”

“Have Lance show you the other finger games he does,” said Allura. Keith immediately felt sick imagining what that could mean. “The one where he separates his thumb from his hand. Oh! Or where he pulls a gak from behind your ear.” Thank the stars she was talking about Lance’s dumb close up magic tricks, which Keith suspected were just another way for Lance to try to impress girls.

He’d used the gak trick on Keith once when they were together, leaning in close and rubbing Keith’s ear. “What’s that behind your ear?” he’d asked, but then after a moment Lance hadn’t pretended to pull anything out, just kept massaging the ear with his thumb and fingers until Keith questioned what he was doing and he’d replied, “Nothing there, my mistake.” Then Lance had used that hold on Keith’s ear to tug him forward into a kiss…

Keith chased the memory out of his brain, his cheeks flushed with a mix of embarrassment and anger. “I meant mission wise,” said Keith, his voice coming out tense. “Any updates?”

“Pidge and I are scanning for planets,” said Shiro.

“Great. Let me know when you’ve locked on to a location. Our Lions are low on power and we need a Quintessence rich planet to help charge them.”

“Affirmative,” said Pidge.

Two more vargas passed without updates. Everyone seemed tired today. Even Lance and Romelle grew tired of arguing the rules of Rock Paper Scissors and quieted down. Keith was left with his own thoughts, which was dangerous because the only place his brain would go was last night. He could still hear Lance’s words echoing in his brain, “So no, I’m not going to say the words, ‘I love you’ so you can decide that I deserve you. So that we can go back to pretending this is working. So you can fuck me at night and treat me like a subordinate during the day. No. Because I’m tired and I just want to go home.”

Keith drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them. Lance had let it slip during their breakup that he loved Keith, but that didn’t add up. You don’t dump the person you’re in love with. He wanted so badly to be the person Lance loved, the only person Lance loved, but he simply wasn’t good enough. 

As the first few tears slipped from his eyes, Keith hit the mute button. He had a tendency to sniffle when he cried and he couldn’t risk his team overhearing. Especially not Lance. Keith leaned his head against his knees. He felt a nudge as Kosmo offered his fur as comfort. Keith placed a hand on Kosmo’s head and massaged it, concentrating on the feeling of the fur before he was calm enough to wipe the last of the tears away. He unmuted the com and sat up straight in his chair as Kosmo went to go back to resting on the floor.

“Maybe if we run this configuration,” said Shiro.

“Still nothing,” replied Pidge. “Allura, try the sonic wave.”

“Okay, I’ll try.” Keith overheard a soft hum that died a tick later, followed by Allura’s voice. “Still nothing and it probably won’t work again until our power-cores are recharged.”

“rthat,” said Pidge. “Well, our long-range scanners still haven’t detected any planets nearby. No, star systems. Nothing.”

“Ugh,” groaned Lance. “How long have we been out here?”

“Going on four movements,” said Romelle.

“And how long is it gonna take us to get to Earth at this speed?”

“I think Pidge said something like ten billion deca-phoebs.”

“I said one and a half Earth years,” hissed Pidge.

“Whoa, whoa. Wait,” said Hunk. “There’s a big discrepancy between ten billion deca-phoebs and one and a half Earth years. Which one is it?”

“It’s one and a half Earth years! We’ve gone over this several times. Though there may be a margin of about a month, depending on any time dilation we encounter.”

“Look, we knew this wasn’t going to be an easy or quick voyage,” said the voice of reason, Shiro, “but replacing the Castle of Lions in our top priority.”

“We just have to stay sharp and maintain discipline,” said Keith. If he did that, he could deal with the Lance thing. It was going to get easier. It had to. “We knew when we started this journey we’d be low on power. We didn’t plan on going through the galactic void, but we’ll get through it.” He really could feel the lag in Black today. Keith connected with Black and reached out to check in on the other Lions. What so often felt like strong pillars of light in his mind, were dim. Red was barely visible, but he wondered if his conflicting feelings over its Paladin were the reason and not that Red was particularly drained.”

“Don’t worry, guys,” said Red’s Paladin, bringing Keith out of his trance and back to reality. “We’ll run into something eventually that will turn this trip around.” Lance sounded as carefree and casual as ever.

“What makes you so sure?” asked Hunk.

“If my experience in space has taught me anything it’s that something always comes along to try to kill us.”

The chatter faded away into silence. Keith lost track of time as the doboshes turned to vargas, dragging their feet. Days were easier to survive when he knew as soon as everyone was asleep he could teleport over to Red to spend the night with Lance. Now there was nothing to look forward to. Maybe there’d never be anything to look forward to again…

Keith hit the mute button every time he feared he was about to start crying, but he managed to hold it together. Then Lance’s voice spoke up again. “Hey, Pidge, why is it so dark out here?”

Keith blinked his way out of his own thoughts and finally paid attention to the view displayed on the screen in front of him. The starlight was gone. When had that happened? He needed to get his head back in the game.

“I can’t be sure, but my theory is this area is surrounded by some kind of nebula that blocks most of the light.”

Those hundreds of thousands of stars, those pinpricks of lights he’d presented to Lance as candle flames shining bright for them, had faded to nearly nothing. Of course they had. What a perfect metaphor. Everything that made Keith happy was disappearing. He almost hit the mute button again.

“Oh yeah,” said Lance. “Must be a patch of that dark matter I’ve heard about.”

“That isn’t what dark matter is.”

“Although, when it’s this dark, what does it matter? Right guys?” said Hunk, reaching for a joke and coming up short. “This is why no one rides with me anymore, isn’t it?”

“Guys,” said Shiro. Keith’s interest was immediately peeked by Shiro’s tone. “I think I might have an idea on how to get the Lions back to to full power.”

“And you’re just now telling us this?” sassed Lance.

“Well, I’m sorry, Lance, but I guess having my consciousness transplanted from the infinity of Voltron’s inner quintessence into the dead body of an evil clone of myself has left me a little out of sorts for the past few weeks.”

“Oh… Yeah…”

“What is it, Shiro?” asked Keith.

“It’s difficult to articulate, but remember when we were fighting Zarkon and we were hit with that beam that drained all of our quintessence?”

Allura chimed in. “Yes, you were all completely incapacitated.”

“That’s right. But we managed to regenerate enough power to keep fighting.”

“Yeah,” agreed Keith. “We repowered Voltron ourselves.”

“Exactly. And I think that’s how it’s meant to work. Since I… disappeared, you’ve been relying on the Castle’s crystal to keep the Lions charged, but if you were a team of fully-realized Paladins, you wouldn’t need that.” 

Keith felt his heart sink. This was his team and he’d failed as leader to bring them together, but it was Allura who spoke up. “I… I can’t help but feel this must be my fault. You were able to recharge Voltron before, but since I joined -”

“It’s no one’s fault,” said Shiro. “Being a Paladin of Voltron takes training. You just haven’t had time to focus on working together to find your balance in this configuration.” Balance, yes. That’s what Keith needed to find, a way to let go of past relationships and balance his team.

“Well, we’ve got nothing but time now,” said Pidge.

“That’s right. We’ve been down before, and we’ve always come back.” Lance’s positive voice amazingly did help Keith feel a little better. He was grateful for Shiro’s pep talk and how it could change everyone’s attitude. He wanted to be that kind of leader.

“I’m glad you’re here, Shiro,” said Keith, sincerely. “After all you went through, how did you find the strength to be the leader of Voltron?” This was the advice he needed. How did he get over the pain of the past and become the leader Shiro already was?

“I had help. That’s why there are five of you, to lift each other up.” This advice felt right. Yes, when he was with Lance he’d dragged him down. Now that he’d set him free, he had a chance to lift him and the whole team up.

“So, what should we do?” asked Keith. “Maybe some flight formation exercises?”

“What’s that?” asked Pidge and Keith was surprised she had to ask.

“You know, when you line up and -”

“No, no, no! That! Dead ahead!” Keith looked and there was lightning straight ahead. How is that possible? Worse, it was heading straight for them. “My scanners aren’t picking anything up!”

Suddenly it was on them, like wind made of lightning and their Lions were being knocked back and tossed about.

“What the quiznak is this?” cried Lance.

“Whatever it is, we’ve gotta move!” cried Keith, pushing forward on his accelerator. They were getting hit by lightning bolts and it was draining the little power they still had. “Break high!” he ordered, thinking he’d found a way out. They crested upwards and broke free of the storm. At least they thought, but as the lightning cracked, reaching out, it stuck their Lions. Keith heard screaming before he passed out.

When he woke up in his dark cockpit he immediately asked, “Is everyone all right?”

“I’m here,” groaned Pidge.

“Still alive,” croaked Lance.

“That was crazy,” said Hunk.

“I’m... fine,” rasped Allura. 

Keith turned to check up on Kosmo and was shocked to see the wolf frozen like a statue, mid-growl. “Hey, are you okay, buddy?”

Over the comlink he heard Pidge ask, “Shiro, can you hear me?... Shiro seems to be frozen, but his vitals are strong.”

“Same here.”

“Copy that with Romelle,” said Lance. “What’s going on?”

“Coran is frozen as well,” said Allura. “Our paladin armor must have protected us from the shock. The Blue Lion is completely incapacitated.”

“Yeah, Red is out too.”

“So we’re all alone in space?” asked Hunk. “No power, no way to call for help. Nothing within several thousand light years…”

“What do we do?” asked Lance.

Keith stared at Kosmo’s unmoving face. That was his question to answer. “Pidge, is there any way to get the Lions back up and running?”

“Maybe, but I don’t know how long it’ll take. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re all drifting in opposite directions after that blast.”

“If we don’t get the power back on,” said Hunk, “we might lose each other.”

Keith was drifting away from his team. Away from Lance… He couldn’t allow this to happen. “Okay, the power’s gonna have to wait. Our top priority is tethering the Lions together.”

“I think I have an idea of how we can do it,” said Allura.

“How?” asked Lance. “Some magical powers that you learned on Oriande?”

“No, I have some leftover zip line in my hull.”

“Oh…”

“We’re getting out of our Lions to do this?” asked Hunk, his voice soaked with anxiety. “We don’t even know what that energy pulse was.”

“It’s the only way to stay together,” said Keith. “Allura, grab that zip line. Let’s get moving.”

Keith climbed out of Black and called out his first order, “Everyone stay sharp and hang on.”

“Ugh,” groaned Hunk. “So many Lions, all spinning.”

“C’mon Hunk, we’ve been through worse than this,” said Lance, ever the motivator.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me just… Nope. No good. Oh, don’t barf in the space helmet, Hunk. Don’t do it.”

“You’re going to need to push your Lions to my location,” said Allura. “Otherwise, there won’t be enough cord to attach us together.”

“Uh, by ourselves?” asked Hunk. “I don’t think that’s possible… Yeah, no, we’re definitely gonna need more help… Our jetpacks just don’t have enough thrust. This is gonna take forever. We’re gonna have to do this one by one.”

“On our way,” said Keith. “Everyone to the Yellow Lion!” He flew over to Yellow. They gathered beside Hunk and together fired their jetpacks while pushing against Yellow. 

“Oh no!” cried Lance.

“What?” questioned Hunk.

Keith turned to look at what Lance was staring at. The lightning wind was crackling again and heading straight for them. “Everyone hold on!” he ordered, gripping the side of Yellow.

The electricity thick wind hit them hard, so much more intense now with direct exposure. 

“I’m losing my grip-” Pidge was the first have her hold fail, getting ripped away from the rest of them.

Next Hunk slipped and collided with the rest of them, knocking them all free of Yellow, the wind tearing them away from their Lions. Everyone’s screams were in Keith’s ears as they twisted through space. 

“I’m losing sight of the Lions!” yelled Pidge.

“Stay together!” ordered Keith. He needed to get his bearings and fast!

“Oh no!” screamed Hunk.

Keith fired his jet pack, heading towards the movement that could only be the other Paladins.

“I got Hunk!” yelled Lance.

“I’ve got Pidge!” called Allura.

Keith grabbed Allura’s hand right after Lance had grabbed Pidge. That meant they were all in a chain. “Fired your jetpacks,” ordered Keith. “Let’s get stabilized!”

Keith grabbed Hunk’s leg and they fired all at once. The spinning slowed, the momentum finally running out. “Oh, thank you!” cried Hunk.

“Does anyone have eyes on the Lions?” asked Lance.

“I can’t see them,” said Pidge, looking around.

“Neither can I,” said Allura.

“At this point, I don’t know which direction they’re in,” said Hunk.

“Okay,” said Keith, needing to take control before anyone (Hunk) panicked. “Let’s run through our checklist. Does anyone have any supplies?”

“Nope,” said Lance.

“Mm-mm. Nothing,” said Pidge.

“No food. No water,” lamented Hunk.

“Our suits will recycle enough moisture to keep us hydrated for a little while,” said Keith. “We just need to hang tight. We have each other.” He hoped that sounded like a plan because really, it wasn’t.

“Don’t worry, Hunk,” said Lance with a small smile. “Something else will be along to kill us any minute now.” His face went from confident to worried. “Any minute... Annnny minute.”

Lance said “any minute” about forty more times before Keith ordered him to stop. Apparently Lance thought he could summon more danger with those words, as if they were magic. 

Keith directed everyone into a more comfortable position, hooking arms and facing outwards so they could spot it if the predicted danger were it to come for them. Him and Lance independently arranged themselves so they weren’t beside each other. Lost in space, touching Lance… That was too much. It was difficult enough that his brain was already filled with him. All those awful things they said to each other… All the picture perfect moments between them… All the intensely hot sex… Everything conflicting and draining his energy and now there was officially nothing else to distract Keith from them.

The next step was nothing. Keith used the voice controls to set an alarm on his helmet to alert him every varga so they could sound off. The alert popped up on his visor as a red triangle. “Everyone sound off,” said Keith, he’d already lost track of how many times he’d given this order. Not good for a leader. Hopefully Pidge was still tracking the passage of time.

“Lance here.”

“Pidge here.”

“Allura here.”

Silence.

“Hunk?”

“I’m hiding.”

“I need you to sound off, Hunk. It’s important to maintain discipline and mental acuity in these situations. These techniques helped my mom and I through the Quantum Abyss.” Of course then he was free to roam around the space whale, not just float through space.

“Keith is right,” said Allura. “Being lost in space has been known to drive one mad. Too much time contemplating infinity is not good for the mind.”

“I like to keep busy calculating pi as out as far as I can,” said Pidge. “The record is four quadrillion, but that’s using the Hadoop parallelization framework. I’m just using my brain.”

Hunk chuckled. “Hadoop.”

“Wait! Guys! Look!” cried Lance. “Lights!”

“Told you Lance would go crazy first.”

“No, no, no, no! I see them!” cried Pidge. “There really are lights!”

Keith turned his head and saw a gorgeous bright light emanating in the distance.

“Perhaps it’s a ship,” said Allura.

“Oh yes!” cheered Hunk. “Yes! We’re rescued!”

The orientated themselves to the light so it descended from above them. Winged creatures, hundreds of them, spiraled down towards them through the radiance They flew through the group of Paladins. Up close they looked like a winged, eyeless fish, with a glowing tendril for a tail.

“Amazing,” gasped Pidge because they were majestic and such a welcome sight after hours and hours of nothing but dim starlight.

“They’re beautiful,” gushed Allura.

The creatures swirled around them like a tunnel cloud. “We should follow them,” said Hunk.

“What?” asked Keith.

“Yeah. They must be heading somewhere. Like a hive or something and wherever that is, it must be better than floating around here just, like, starving to death.”

Keith thought about this, feeling the full weight of being the leader on his shoulders. “Hunk’s right. Let’s follow them. Everyone stay together.” He fired his jetpack and like a firecracker detonating the creatures shot off in every direction, faster than should be possible. And suddenly, there was nothing again.

“Where’d they go?” cried Lance. The panic in his voice made Keith’s heart hurt. 

“Were they even real?” asked Allura.

“I guess they could’ve been a hallucination,” said Pidge. “But that usually only happens when you’re going mad.”

Keith felt the cold knife of dread sink into his gut. He’d been in hopeless situations before. This one felt worse.


	2. Keith's Journey Within Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dying and exposed to the infinite abyss, Keith tries to give up. Hunk and the others help him pull through.

The alert went off in front of Keith’s eyes, which meant he’d been lost in thought for another varga. He ignored it.

“Keith, shouldn’t we sound off?” asked Lance.

“What’s the point?” muttered Keith.

“Lance here.”

“Pidge here.”

“Allura here.”

“I… am… Hunk.”

Silence. Good. Keith could go back to hating himself and hoping death would hurry up.

“I wonder how my dad and Matt are doing,” said Pidge, cutting through the quiet.

“Better than us, hopefully,” said Keith.

Quiet. Then… “My father had something he always said in dire situations,” began Allura.

“Give up,” said Keith.

“Sorry?” gasped Allura, offended.

“It just doesn’t seem like he was a real fighter when the chips were down.”

“Keith, come on,” said Hunk.

“You have a lot of nerve questioning someone’s leadership,” seethed Allura, “seeing how you left us!”

“Allura, please,” said Hunk, his voice drenched in concern.

Keith couldn’t stand this any longer. His skin felt like it was crawling. “As I recall, you were the one who got us all cozied up to Lotor.”

“Keith, you ran away!” Lance turned his head to look at Keith. Of course he was going to defend Allura. “Maybe you should’ve just stayed away!” There it was… The person he loved, filled with spite, wishing he’d never come back.

“Lance, Keith, everyone, stop!” bellowed Hunk. “Look, guys, I understand what’s happening here. You’re all brave heroes who don’t know how to react to being scared, and it’s causing you to attack one another. That or you’re all going space mad. Hopefully, you’re just scared. I’m scared all the time. I can talk you through it.”

“Sorry, Hunk, I guess I just don’t know how to be a coward.” The words tasted bitter coming out of Keith’s mouth, but just like when he insulted Allura, he found satisfaction in the disgusted reaction of the others. It felt good to just give up and be terrible like so many people had always expected Keith to be, to be the villainous Galra Allura had always suspected he was.

“Right,” said Hunk, refusing to let Keith hurt him. “That’s what I’m saying.”

“Why don’t you just leave him alone, Keith,” spat Lance, his tone poison, his face twisted with revulsion. “Just drift off by yourself, Mr. Lone Wolf.”

“Fine,” said Keith, relieved for the out. Glad Lance was sending him away for good so he didn’t have to keep seeing that hateful look on his face. Keith turned, and fired his jet pack.

“No don’t!” shouted Hunk, lunging at Keith and catching him by the ankle. “We have to stay together!”

Hunk didn’t get it! He didn’t understand! Keith couldn’t stay here any longer with Lance!

“Why, Hunk? Are we really even friends?” Friendship was a lie. “Is there anything holding us together besides some messed up series of coincidences?” Love was a joke. “I mean, what are we? Some chosen saviours? Do you really believe that?” Destiny wasn’t real. “What are we even doing here?”

“We’re doing what we have to,” said Hunk, his voice still refusing to be triggered by Keith’s anger.

Keith had known the moment he was informed of his father’s passing that he was not meant to have good things. He tried not to want anything for himself, not completely. Not until Lance and even then he tried to keep his distance because the things he wanted could never belong to him. It came out of nowhere when Lance took those extra steps and pulled Keith into his heart and let him know happiness and security for the briefest moment in his life. Of course Keith twisted it and ruined it. Of course it wasn’t even enough that Lance had left him, he wanted Keith to get out of his sight, to leave him alone forever. He should’ve known… He should never have wanted…

“Let me go!” yelled Keith, firing his jetpack.

“No!” Hunk gripped him tighter.

“Uh, guys,” said Pidge, looking off in the distance. Keith followed her eye line to a bright light in the distance.

“Is it more of those creatures?” asked Lance.

“No, it appears to be a single source,” said Allura. “It looks like a planet.”

“No way,” gasped Lance.

Keith couldn’t believe his eyes. “It’s… Earth.”

“That wave must have knocked us all the way across the universe!” exclaimed Pidge.

“We’re home!” cried Lance, firing his jet pack and taking off towards Earth. Keith and the others followed. “We’re gonna make it, guys!” Keith felt this huge weight lifted off him. They would make it to Earth. They wouldn’t die in space because Keith was a failure as a leader. Everything could be sorted out when they were back on planet. This is what Lance wanted more than anything. To go home and now he could finally see him be happy.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” exclaimed Hunk. “Guys, where’s the sun?” Quiet, Hunk. Don’t ruin this! “Where’s the other planets? Or the moon?” Hunk was losing it. Keith ignored him and kept flying towards that beautiful blue ball. “Stop! This is too good to be true. Stop. Everybody, stop!” Hunk dove in front of them and held out his arms, forcing them to stop.

“Hunk, what are you doing?” demanded Allura.

“Stop it, Hunk!” yelled Lance.

“No, no, something is wrong!”

“Hunk, you’re hallucinating!” cried Pidge. “You’re going space mad! Just let us take you home!”

The four of them surged forward and grabbed hold of Hunk. If he didn’t come with them, they’d drag him there. Didn’t he understand? They needed this! Voltron needed this!

Hunk fired his jet pack and pushed back. “No! Listen to yourselves! You’re letting all of this get the better of you! There’s no way that can be Earth.”

“Just trust us, Hunk,” said Allura. “You’ll thank us when we get there.”

“Let me go!” screamed Hunk, breaking free of their grasp.

Keith couldn’t worry about that He needed to reach Earth. But then his instincts fired, telling him an attack from behind was coming. He heard the loud hum of the yellow bayard’s energy canon before the blast shot between him and the others, forcing them to dive out of its way. The blast hit the Earth! And for a moment Keith believed it would blow it up, but then the Earth rippled and transformed into a giant eye. No… it didn’t transform… It revealed its true form. The thing the blue eye belonged to faded into view- a creature, partially transparent, partially solid, and fully threatening.

“What the quiznak is that thing?” asked Lance as they all gaped at the monster.

“Hunk was right,” added Pidge.

“He saved us,” said Allura.

“Here it comes,” warned Hunk, the only one with his wits about him. The creature opened its mouth and - Teeth! Rows and rows of massive teeth making rings down the path to its gullet. They screamed, turning and flying away as fast as their jetpacks would carry them, the force of the creature’s movements throwing their flight paths into spins.

“Guys, that thing is hunting us,” exclaimed Lance. “It’s gonna get us all unless we do something.”

“Like what?” asked Allura. “We can’t even use our bayards.”

“How did you manifest yours, Hunk?” asked Pidge. 

“I don’t know. I just knew that I needed to.”

“What are we gonna do?” asked Lance. “We don’t stand a chance!”

Keith couldn’t think. He didn’t know how to lead in this situation. Hunk took it upon himself to act for him and charged toward the beast, screaming, “Get out of here! I’ll buy you some time. Go!”

“Hunk!” yelled Lance and Pidge. 

“No!” screamed Allura.

Keith needed to shake out of it. Hunk was going to get killed! He was speeding towards the beast, firing his energy canon, screaming a battle cry. They had to go after him! Amazingly Keith didn’t need to say thing, as all at once him, Lance, Allura, and Pidge flew after Hunk. They formed a chain and grabbed hold of Hunk.

“Fire jetpacks!” yelled Pidge when she had Hunk securely in her hold.

The creature let out a roar as it just missed scooping Hunk into its mouth. Keith felt a surge of relief, knowing Hunk was way with them as he captured the Yellow Paladin in his arms, holding him safe. And the momentum threw them all backwards, but they managed to slow themselves to a stop.

“What are you guys doing?” asked Hunk, when they’d stabilized. “I told you to escape!”

“Why would we ever do that without you?” asked Lance. Lance could always tell you his feelings through his voice alone. His affection for Hunk was so evident just from his tone. Keith both admired and envied that, but mostly he took comfort whenever that tone was directed at him.

“Yeah,” agreed Pidge. “You can’t expect us to just leave you.”

“We’re a team, Hunk,” added Allura. “We have to stick together like you said.”

Keith listened to the others, their affection and friendship so evident now. He knew his thoughts had been so clouded by heartbreak and despair that he’d gotten things wrong. He’d gotten a lot wrong lately... Maybe he needed Hunk to shake him out of it. Hunk loved so fully with his whole heart. He was scared by everything, but fought beside them everyday. If Keith could make a choice to be someone new, to grow into someone better, it would be Hunk. He had this chance now to take a step toward this goal. His team didn’t need solutions from Keith. They needed to feel worthy and cared about and solid.

“I’m sorry about all those hurtful things I said.” Keith didn’t feel safe enough to look directly at Lance when he spoke these words. He wanted to say sorry to all of them for what he’d said during their time floating in space, but he also wanted Lance to know he was sorry for everything he’d said last night. “I was wrong.” Keith could get down on himself and he had a way of interpreting the worst of every situation. He wished he could take back what he’d said to Lance, but at the very least he hoped Lance knew this was his apology. “This series of messed up coincidences did happen for a reason. It brought us together as paladins. But more importantly…” Keith could hardly believe it as the smile invaded his own face. To think he was capable of this joy after all the heartache. “It brought us together as friends.” That was the key to his leadership, that they could bring this feeling to Keith. All four of them and even if Lance wasn’t his boyfriend, if he could be his friend and his teammate, his heart would be full.

Keith felt the connection click. He felt Black, that endless stretch of ribbons of stars connecting all life in every corner of the galaxy. But also, starting in his toes, he felt the cool depths of Blue and the solid soil of Yellow. Travelling upwards he felt the leafy branches of Green, and once again the heat and smoke of Red. 

Whole. He was whole with them and he wanted them to feel it too. He wanted to be that kind of leader. He wanted to lead his Pride.

Keith’s bayard activated in his hand, becoming its sword form. Simultaneously everyone’s bayards manifested their weapons. The resolve on each of their faces filled Keith with the strength he needed to lead. “Alright, team. We have to attack this thing with our bayards from every side possible. That way it can’t target us all at once.”

“Yeah!” the teamed cheered in agreement.

Keith broke to the side as the others took to their assigned zones. He attacked the side with his sword and met up with the others once the beast had flown past. Unfortunately it had taken little damage from their attacks.

“It’s toying with us!” cried Allura. 

They watched as the massive beast passed by. Lance fired his blaster at the creature. It reared towards them, surging forward at their group. Lance was in front. The beast would get him first. Keith felt a moment of panic and protectiveness seeing Lance in harms way. He wanted to protect him, but there was no way to get in front of him and even then his sword wouldn’t slow the beast.

He sensed it before he heard the roar. Felt the heat on his skin, tasted smoke on his tongue, felt that burn in the pit of his stomach. And there was Red firing his mouth canon at the creature, coming to save his Paladin!

Keith sensed the others too before he saw them – leafy green, fragrant soil, cooling splash, and infinity of the night sky – before they came into view, attacking the creature. The Lions of Voltron had come to save their Paladins. They’d been charged and summoned, ready for action. The beast screamed and flew off in terror.

“Yeah, you better run!” boomed Lance.

“I think he might actually be running from that,” said Pidge, drawing their attention to behind them. Off in the distance, the lightning wind was gathering once more.

“Again?” croaked Hunk.

“We know we can’t outrun it,” said Allura.

“We’re not running this time,” said Keith. He felt as certain with what they needed to do as he felt his connection to each of their Lions. Red especially felt so strong and close to him. Almost as if he were his Paladin again.

When they were inside their Lions, Keith called out, “Form Voltron!”

The transformation felt smoother than ever. Keith could reach out his mind and feel every joint flex, every connection click... More than that, he felt his team with him. He felt their resolve. He took strength from their unity. With this, he did not use Voltron to retreat, but flew him directly into the eye of the lightning windstorm.

Blue lightning gathered and cracked around them as they flew into the energy wave. Voltron took hits as the colours shifted to purple. Pidge and Lance braced Voltron with the arms. A massive gathering of red lightning cracked and hit them. They were knocked back, but Keith forced the accelerator forward, surging ahead once more through a tunnel of blue electricity.

Keith’s attention was grabbed by his bayard slot raising up and opening. He took his bayard and jammed it in, twisting it to activate. He felt that surge of power, bursting like ancient stars as they supernova... but… also he felt the searing heat of solar flares. Lance had activated his bayard at the same moment, he could sense it. He felt something unlock, a new power… Voltron showed him in this mind the gargantuan wings with rocket boosters. A synced force of will between him and Lance activated them and their speed increased beyond the restrictions of physics.

This nebula-created tunnel of wind and lightning was no longer a threat, it was a super highway bending to the will of Voltron. It would take them wherever they pleased. Keith focused the destination in his mind.

‘Please… please we need this,’ thought Keith. ‘Take us to Earth.’ He thought of Pidge and Hunk longing to reunite with their families. He thought of Allura, 10,000 years with no planet to call home, longing to belong somewhere. He needn’t think of Lance, because he was with him right now. Their spirits locked so they could manifest the wings together, their hearts beating as one, their thoughts mingling on he same plane. Lance wanted to go home. Keith wanted Lance to be happy. Keith would bring him there.

A blinding flash of light and they broke free. Keith’s mind went blank, unable to fully recall everything he’d thought and felt in those mere seconds it took them to travel through the deadly nebula’s tunnel. A noise behind him caught his attention. He looked and there was Kosmo, moving again. Relief washed over him.

“What happened?” came Romelle’s voice through the comlink. “Did something come to try to kill us?”

“You know it,” confirmed Lance, the exhaustion evident in his voice.

Keith overheard Coran yawn then Allura said, “It looks like that nebula carried us thousands of light years away.”

“So, where are we?” asked Coran.

It was Pidge who answered, quickly figuring it out for the group. “That looks like… I recognize these constellations!... This is Earth’s solar system! It’s the milky way!”

“Home,” said Hunk.

“We made it,” said Lance and Keith heard quiet joy and awe inside his tone. He felt the emotion of it like it was gift.

“We’re finally here,” said Shiro. 

The sight before him was more beautiful than any he’d ever seen. They’d done it. His team had done it and so had he. Keith had led them home.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” asked Keith. He pushed forward on the accelerator and steered them towards Earth.


	3. Lance's Lion Heart Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a mission debriefing, Keith has a proposal for Lance. Spoiler: It's smut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The majority of the canon events in this chapter come from the episode Heart of the Lion. Feel free to rewatch this episode and imagine this context!

Lance’s connection with Red had never felt so vivid, but more than that there was something extra beyond the fire ripping through his veins, the taste of smoke in his mouth. There was a second connection, just the briefest glimpse of something magic in the night sky, like looking up at just the right moment and seeing a shooting star. Was this Black he felt? How? Lance had only ever felt is own Lion, but here was this extra sense that told him he and Keith had activated their bayards together and there Keith was, in spirit, in heart, in mind. Like they’d opened wide and swallowed each other and that’s how he could feel Black at his fingertips.

There was a blinding flash of light and they broke free of that electricity tunnel of death. Lance’s brain felt dense and used up like cookies he’d left in the oven too long. Stillness, after so much movement. They were looking a new Galaxy and Lance couldn’t begin to understand how. Did they travel? What had just happened? Why was his mind blanking?

“What happened?” Lance turned to see Romelle waking up. “Did something come to try to kill us?”

“You know it,” he answered, the exhaustion enveloping him like a blanket.

“It looks like that nebula carried us thousands of light years away,” said Allura. Great. Even farther off course. Awesome.

“So, where are we?” asked Coran.

Pidge answered him. “That looks like… I recognize these constellations!... This is Earth’s solar system! It’s the milky way!”

“Home,” said Hunk.

Lance couldn’t believe it. The information just wouldn’t sink in. Through the shock he said, “We made it.” 

“We’re finally here,” said Shiro. 

“Well, what are we waiting for?” asked Keith, the enthusiasm positively vibrating through his voice.

*******

Coming home wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It never is, but the invasion of Earth having happened already and Sendak’s forces controlling all but tiny patches of the planet was the heartbreak of a lifetime. But then there was reuniting with his family. Every one of them safe thanks to Veronica, every one of them waiting for him at the Galaxy Garrison. Never had his heart felt so full. Full but broken, that was Lance.

Within two days of landing back on Earth, life became a mixture of gratitude and dread. Lance was so thankful for his family’s survival and so devastated for humanity’s losses and their chance of surviving against Sendak. Now that he was there though, Lance would do anything he could to fight Sendak and protect what remained of his home.

His pain over breaking up with Keith wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. Maybe it was because there was too much going on to pay attention to that feeling. Maybe it was because he’d snapped while floating in space and told off Keith for leaving the team and it felt good to just rage about it. Maybe it was because Keith had apologized to all of them afterwards for the hurtful things he said. This likely wasn’t directed at Lance. Probably didn’t include the awful things Keith had shouted at Lance as they broke up - mostly about Keith being jealous of Allura - But still, somehow it helped because he knew Keith wasn’t one to apologize. He’d never gotten an apology from Keith without having to lead him through it. For Keith to apologize like that, to tell the team they were his friends. That was huge for Keith and that made Lance feel better.

He hadn’t realized how much of his background brain processing went to concern over Keith feeling a part of the group. I guess that made sense if Lance was always worried Keith would leave again. Maybe it didn’t make a difference now that they were over, but Lance wasn’t ready to be separated from him again. Plus Keith was a great leader and they needed him, especially now. He knew Keith longed to feel like he belonged and if Lance couldn’t be his home, Voltron could be. He cared a lot about Keith felt, even if they were over, he couldn’t shut off those feelings.

The good news was things seemed to be okay with Keith. It’s not like they’d talked one on one or anything, but the moment they’d landed on Earth and been targeted by flying drones Keith had asked Lance to cover him then he’d turned and back jokingly said, “Don’t miss.” It was such a relief to hear Keith joke with him again. Lance really wanted to be his friend even if that would take some time. At least their trust as teammates was back. 

When they’d first become Paladins, Coran had forced them to do all those bonding exercises. There was this dumb one with invisible walls where they’d been partnered. Keith was supposed to direct Lance safely through while looking at the map, but immediately Lance hit a wall which was 100% Keith’s fault and in no way due to his own poor listening skills. They’d switched places and Keith’s attempt to get through the maze went just as poorly with the two of them shouting at each other over how the other was incompetent. Now as they investigated a massive Sendak base, Lance was using their Paladin gear to view a 3D rendering of Keith’s environment across his visor and Keith was trusting Lance to guide him, Pidge, and Kosmo through. What was so hard once was natural now. It’s amazing how people and relationships can evolve…

Incredible also, was that you can be so sure you’re in love with someone one day then the next wonder if that wasn’t the case. Maybe just a whole bunch of good feelings about Keith had added up in Lance’s head and he’d decided to call that love. Isn’t that what he’d done with Allura? Maybe he didn’t know what love felt like yet… 

These were the thoughts he’d had the night before. The only time the pain of losing his intimacy with Keith truly gripped him was when he slept in a dorm room surrounded by the love of all his family members. He cried silent tears, afraid to wake them and told himself over and over that this is what mattered, not being Keith’s boyfriend.

“I’ve got movement to the North,” said Kinkade, alerting Allura and Griffin. Lance refocused his mind on the mission. “Drones closing in on your positions from the adjacent alley.”

“We’ve been spotted,” said Allura, her and Griffin were posted outside the base Keith and Pidge had snuck into.

“Hang tight.” Kinkade took out the three drones with his sniper, but the activity attracted the attention of nearby sentries who began firing on Allura and Griffin’s position.

“Think you guys made them angry,” said Griffin.

“I’ve got five hostiles,” reported Veronica, as the third member of their providing cover from high ground, Lance’s sister was using binoculars to lookout for drones or sentries.

“I’ll take the three on the right,” said Kinkade.

“I got the other two,” said Lance. He lined them up in his sight and took them out. Kinkade’s shots hit their marks as well. 

With the coast clear, Allura stood up and looked towards Lance. Through his sight he could see her face. “Thanks,” she said.

“No problem,” answered Lance.

“She’s pretty,” said Veronica. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” said Lance, gruffly, heat entering his cheeks. Didn’t Veronica realize certain people could overhear her over the comlink? Certain people!

Pidge and Keith made it out safely and were successful in gathering the intel they needed. The bad news was the facility contained a Zaiforge Cannon, nne of six ,which meant Sendak was capable of using them to destroy Earth as soon as they launched. 

Lance walked into the War Room to attend the mission debriefing. He was following the other Paladins when he knocked right into Keith’s back because the guy had stopped walking and was glancing around. 

“Watch it,” said Keith. 

“You’re the one who doesn’t know how to walk. Why’d you’d stop?”

“Just –” began Keith, but Lance cut him off.

“I’m not going to sit beside you, okay?” Lance had noticed Keith do this twice before during other debriefings. Walk in then stop and look around. Lance could only assume Keith didn’t want to be the first to sit in case Lance sat beside him and... what? Attempted to play footsy? “You can sit first and I will choose a seat with many buffer seats between us. Okay?”

“I wasn’t...,” started Keith. He sighed and frowned. “Never mind.” Keith went and sat on the end of the table. 

Lance gave him a wide buffer of two whole chairs then sat down. Allura came to sit beside him, smiling in greeting. She’s been doing that lately. Both the smiling and the sitting beside him. 

Lance noticed Griffin looking at Keith and wondered if Keith wasn’t avoiding sitting near Lance, but near Griffin. Those two had been rivals in school after all. Real rivals, not delusional rivals like Keith and Lance. Wait... what if Keith was attracted to rivals? What if he and Griffin were playing out the Lance and Keith storyline from the beginning. Griffin’s glow up didn’t help. How was he so hot now? Wait... Lance noticed Griffin got hot! Was this something he did now? Notice when boys were hot? Was this a bisexual power he’d unlocked with experience points? Or had he always noticed hot boys, it’s just he’d repressed those thoughts before? Why was this so scary? Was Lance bi-panicking?

Pidge called everyone’s attention and began leading the debriefing. Lance was forced to get over his bi-panic and forget the high school politics of who sits beside who and focus on saving the world.Now that they knew those cannons existed they needed to destroy them before Sendak had a chance to launch them. The MFE’s could take out one base, if the five Lions could handle the others. The problem was the Lions were on Saturn and there was no ship capable of delivering the Paladins to retrieve them. The situation seemed impossible.

“You don’t need to go to them,” said Shiro, piping up. “They’ll come to you. As Paladins of Voltron, you can connect with your Lions. They will come.”

“From Saturn?” asked Hunk.

“From anywhere,” said Shiro with certainty. “You’ve been training for this since the very beginning. Each of you has forged a bond with your Lion. Tap into it.”

“Our Lions did come to us when we were lost in space,” said Lance, recalling that Red had been the very first to arrive when they were being attacked by that giant creature with much teeth.

“And Red saved my life numerous times, “ said Keith, looking to Lance with a soft look that made Lances toes curl and his heartache. Was Keith looking for Lance to agree that Red was great? Odd, because Black was Keith’s Lion now. Had he forgotten?

“Yes, it’s possible,” said Allura and Lance remembered to stop staring at Keith. “So we’ll call the Lions to meet us here.”

“We’ll need the element of surprise,” said Pidge. “The Lions will have to rendezvous with us at the bases.”

“Yeah, that will really catch the Galra off guard,” agreed Hunk. “I mean, assuming our Lions respond to our calls. What if they don’t come?”

“They’ll come,” said Shiro. “And when they do you will strike and destroy all six cannons simultaneously before they can be launched and when the job’s done, you can form Voltron and finish off Sendak and the rest of his forces.”

“My pilots can transport four of you to the Galra bases,” said Griffin, “before heading out to the sixth cannon.”

“I’ll bring Lance to Base One,” said Veronica. “It’s the closest so I can do it by ground.”

“It’s settled then,” said Shiro. “While Veronica drops Lance at Base One, the MFEs will each fly a Paladin out to a base. The Paladins should reach the drop zones at exactly the same time the Lions arrive. Then the MFEs will head to the sixth base. We’ll launch a coordinated attack on all six locations at once.”

The plan formed, they were dismissed. They only had a few hours to prepare for the mission while Coran modified the MFEs for long distance flight. Lance got up to leave, but then felt the slightest tap of two fingers on his wrist. He looked for the source and saw Keith passing, but not looking at him. Keith went and stood near the door, nodding at those who passed but not going himself. Lance understood the message. Keith wanted him to stay. They’d speak once they were alone.

Lance waited until everyone else has left. He came around the end of the table as Keith used the control panel to close the door. Keith looked thoughtful for a moment then typed in a code that locked the door from the inside. They were locked in together... what was going on? Then a terrifying idea popped into Lance’s head. 

“No, no, no, Keith, don’t do it!” cried Lance, backing up. 

“Don’t do what?” Asked Keith. 

Don’t kill me! Don’t stab me with your blade! I’m sorry I hurt you, but don’t believe your mom when she tells you I have to die for that!”

“Lance, I am not going to kill you with my Blade. I don’t even have it. I gave it to Krolia.”

Lance nodded his understanding. “If it’s a bayard fight then at least it will be fair.

“Lance,” groaned Keith. “How can you possibly think I want to kill you?”

“You’ve isolated me and locked me in.”

“I was locking others out. Not you in.”

“Why?” asked Lance.

“Because,” said Keith, blushing as he looked down. “This is the place.”

“The what?” asked Lance, looking around as he’d surely missed something.

“I recognized it the first time I walked in, but I was convinced I was mistaken. But every time we’re, in here I’m sure. This is what I saw.”

“You’ve lost me,” said Lance, wishing Keith would stop being so vague.

“Lance... it’s the place I didn’t recognize from the flash I saw of the future. The one where we...”

“We...?”

“We...” Keith hopped up to sit on the table. 

“Can you just finish that sentence?” snapped Lance.

“This was a bad idea,” said Keith, his mood shifting. He hopped off the table. Keith looked so frustrated and disappointed. What could he have seen in the future with Lance in a certain setting…?

Wait... wait... 

“This is the place?” Lance basically yelled. “Where you and I -?”

“Yes,” said Keith, his eyes sparkling with excitement now that Lance was getting it.

“Where I get to... to you?”

“This is it and I’ve been hoping to get you alone here for awhile.” Keith looked down, bashful. Lance’s brain had stopped functioning. This was his ex so how could he? But then again, this was Keith, so how could he not? “Sorry,” said Keith, suddenly, heading towards the door. “I should’ve kept it to myself. Obviously you don’t want to.:

“Keith, no!” Lance shouted. Keith froze. “You can not offer the chance to top you then immediately snatch it off the table. That is not okay!”

“Okay, could you maybe not yell?” scolded Keith.

“I’m having trouble controlling the volume of my voice right now!” said Lance, starting to pace. “I mean this is the big leagues. This is something I’ve wanted for a while now, like, really badly. Like filling my head with it at all hours of the day.” He was ranting now.

“Are you okay?” asked Keith with concern.

I” don’t know. Is there any way to just be okay when your dreams come true? I feel like I should make a speech.”

“Please don’t.”

“What if instead I just sang a bit of We Are the Champions?”

“I swear, Lance, you sing even one note,” stated Keith, “I will unlock that door and walk out.”

“Sorry,” said Lance, with a blush. “I’m just excited. But are… are you sure you want this?”

“I think we need to make some ground rules first,” said Keith, suddenly interested in the floor. “But yes, I want to fulfill the promise I made to give you all my firsts.” Keith looked up at Lance through his bangs and Lance felt giddy.

He swallowed and said as evenly as possible, “Right. Ground rules. What were you thinking?”

“This isn’t us getting back together. It’s a one time thing.”

“Right…,” said Lance, trying not to sound sad. Not that he thought this was it or wanted to be back together. Honestly, Lance didn’t know what he wanted for the future. Only want he wanted in the moment.

“And we’re safe…”

“Shit,” said Lance. “I don’t have any of my stuff and we are not doing this without lube.”

That’s when Keith reached into his pocked and pulled out lube and a strip of condoms.

“Wow,” said Lance. “Should I be more blown away by the fact that you were carrying those around waiting to seduce me or that you have actual Earth produced products?”

“It was both easy and difficult to track them down,” said Keith. “If that makes sense?”

“So like, you knew who to ask, but it took you a long time to work up the courage?”

“Well… I stole them. Not important.” Keith brushed it away.

As they were talking they’d both been inching closer to each other. “So I guess…,” said Lance. “If you saw it happening already then it’s destiny and we wouldn’t want to ignore destiny?”

“We’ve never before,” said Keith. “Why start now?”

“Exactly,” said Lance, his voice coming out a whisper because Keith was so close now there was no need to speak up. 

As Keith moved in to kiss him Lance decided there was no way the sex with Keith had been as good as he remembered it. He’d exaggerated it in his memory, but then their lips met and it was that spark that ignited the fire quickly ripping through him. And it was Keith. Lance’s hand snaked around his neck. He twisted his fingers in Keith’s mullet. That ugly, dumb, getting-far-too-long, perfect, beautiful mullet.

Then they were undressing, working at each other’s belts. “So many layers,” cursed Keith as he moved on to unbutton Lance’s Garrison jacket. They weren’t used to needing to undress so much. Even when they’d fucked in their Paladin uniforms, they’d figured out how to keep most of the thing on and still get at the dirty bits. When Lance had Keith’s button’s off he pushed the jacket off the boy’s shoulders to reveal his white undershirt underneath. Lance paused.

“What?” asked Keith.

“I’ve never seen you in a white t-shirt before. It’s so odd. It’s like looking at a photo negative.”

“Shut up.” Keith pulled off his own t-shirt. Damn. He was so hot, it was unbelievable. Lance wanted to make a ‘where’s the beef?’ joke, but feared Keith would unlock that door and storm out and there was no way in hell Lance would risk sabotaging this.

Keith pulled off Lance’s undershirt, murmuring about how much he missed this and how Lance was amazing. Lance was still in awe that someone as hot Keith thought of him as hot. I mean, yeah, Lance was the total package and pre-space-whale-journey, him and Keith were on the same level, but that boy glowed the fuck up. But then maybe this was a bisexual benefit. You could both be a hot guy and be with a hot guy. No need for jealousy, just feel the love.

Keith took his hand and rubbed Lance’s hard cock through his pants while kissing on his neck. Lance bit down on his bottom lip. “You can moan,” purred Keith, kissing up his jawline. “I wanna hear you.” Why was he like this? The first time they hooked up Keith was so quiet and shy and now he dirty talked like a sex line worker. This had to be Lance’s influence. Can’t say he regretted it. He was so proud of his fithy-mouthed boy.

Lance obliged the request and hummed his appreciation as Keith continued to stroke him through the fabric of his pants. He couldn’t be much louder as Keith’s tongue was in his mouth, his free hand locked behind his head so he couldn’t escape, not that Lance would ever dream of it. Lance reached between them so he could stroke Keith through his pants just the same. He loved that they matched, that they could experience the same sensation at once. Yet another bisexual benefit.

Keith lowered himself to his knees, kissing every bit of Lance’s flesh that he saw on his way down. He unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down. Tried to get them off easily, but once again Lance had way more clothes than usual. He was wearing shoes even! Clothes were dumb and officially the worst and Lance couldn’t stop verbally cursing every stitch of clothing that had to be removed until Keith released his erection from his underwear and pulled it into his mouth and oh… He loved it when Keith sucked him off. Nothing felt better than this. But then maybe topping Keith would…

“Gonna make me cum,” mumbled Lance.

“That’s the point,” said Keith, working the shaft with his hand so he could use his mouth for words.

“Don’t wanna cum this way. Wanna fuck you.”

“You will,” said Keith. “But you’re too excited and I wanna get one out of the way so you can last longer.”

“Hey!” gasped Lance, insulted. “I last plenty long. Just sometimes it’s really hot and you can’t even talk because I’ve seen you cum in like thirty ticks and –“

Keith sprung to his feet and actually placed a finger on Lance’s lip to shut him up. “Shhh. I saw how this goes down. I know the script. You’re going to cum in my mouth then we’re going to mess around a bit more then you’re going to get hard again and fuck me on top of that table.” Keith nodded his head towards the war room table. “Sound like a good plan?” Keith removed his finger.

“I can roll with that itinerary,” said Lance. Worth noting is that Keith continued to jerk Lance off the whole time he was scolding him.

“Good,” said Keith. “Because if you complain again I’m going to make you choke on my cock so you can’t speak.”

Lance moaned his appreciation. “Your dirty talk is so top drawer.”

“Lance, shut up,” said Keith then he pushed that same finger into Lance’s mouth. Lance instinctively sucked on it. Keith pulled it out and with a grin reached around to rub the slick finger against Lance’s asshole. Lance nearly melted. It was so hard to stay standing while Keith was stroking his cock and dipping his finger into his ass. 

“Fuck, Keith, ah…,” Lance stopped himself, wondering if moaning Keith’s name meant he wasn’t shutting up enough.

Keith gave him a deep kiss then lowered himself back down to his knees, pulling the finger out of his asshole. Keith pulled Lance’s cock back into his mouth, looking up at Lance with those big grey eyes. The view was so amazing yet it could be better. Lance bent enough to grab the front of Keith’s pants with one hand and worked the button and the zipper to get them open. He pushed down at the hem of Keith’s pants. Keith helped him, working Lance’s cock with just his mouth so he could pull down his pants and briefs.

“I wanna look at it,” mumbled Lance. “I wanna see the ass I’m gonna cum into next.”

With a glint in his eye (and a cock in his mouth) Keith arched his back and stuck out his ass so Lance could get an even better view than the sight of Keith licking up and down Lance’s length. He was getting close to cumming now. Maybe Keith had been right and Lance needed to get one out of the way so he had the stamina to fuck Keith the way he deserved to be fucked. Keith’s hand cupped his balls, giving him a lightest little massage then his hand stroked back and that finger, that dirty fucking finger, pushed back inside him.

“You couldn’t let me have this,” teased Lance as Keith fingered him. “You couldn’t resist fucking me first in your own small way.”

Keith pulled off his cock long enough to say, “If you hate it, tell me to stop,” before diving back in. What a fucking tease. He knew Lance would never ask him to stop, especially not when that finger pressed just the right way, finding his prostate. Lance’s knees went weak, he almost collapsed, but Keith used his free hand to wrap around Lance’s hips to steady him and the fact that he could still blow him while holding up most of his bodyweight was unbelievable. Lance’s last coherent thoughts were of how strong and beautiful and hot Keith was before fireworks went off in his brain and thinking became impossible. All his senses focused on the pleasure gripping his loins and moving out through his body, twisting him down because he had to move with it, his cum ejaculating into that warm mouth wrapped around his cock. Fuck it was so good.

Lance couldn’t just stand up straight again after. He had to drop down to his knees and practically tackle Keith in a kiss because he felt so blissful and he wanted to rub it off all over him. 

“Felt like a good one,” hummed Keith. He was actually having to brace himself with one arm on the floor to keep Lance from bowling him over.

“So fucking good. Let me show you,” growled Lance as he got down on his hands so he could take Keith’s cock into his mouth and repeat the exact scene with the giver and receiver reversed, using his finger and everything, but with Keith on his back. He kept it the same until he had Keith panting and then he got inspired and rolled Keith into his side but angled towards his stomach and gave his asshole a lick.

“Fuck, Lance,” moaned Keith, into his arm as Lance ate his ass. “It’s too much. I wanna stop before I cum.”

“Okay,” agreed Lance, moving himself behind so he could spoon Keith. “How do you want it?” Lance ground his, once again, very hard dick against Keith’s ass. “Right here?” Lance couldn’t help rubbing the head of his cock against Keith’s entrance while he offered. He knew they weren’t ready and he wasn’t going to push it further without Keith giving him the go ahead, but imaging what he was going to get to do was intoxicating.

“The table,” answered Keith.

“Does it have to be the table?” asked Lance, losing the sexy gruff from his voice.

“Yes,” answered Keith. 

“Because I always pictured you on your hands and knees.”

“Don’t fuck with fate,” said Keith then he looked back over his shoulder so he could kiss Lance. What was meant to be a quick peck turned into making out and Lance took Keith’s cock into his hand and started jerking him off while grinding his own erection against Keith’s ass. Moments later Keith was arching himself against Lance as cum spilled into his hand.

“Shit. Sorry,” mumbled Lance, remembering Keith hadn’t wanted to cum yet.

Keith rolled to his other side so he could face Lance. In a teasing voice he said, “Now you’ll need to make me cum a second time.”

“That’s literally my favourite thing to do,” said Lance. “I’m going to fuck you on that table now.”


	4. Lance's Lion Heart Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance tops

Lance had Keith naked, on his back on the very table they’d had all the top Garrison officials gathered at twenty minutes prior, discussing how to save the world. In two hours, they’d need to go be heroes, be the defenders of the universe. Right at the moment Lance was standing before him, two fingers knuckle deep in Keith’s asshole and the only decision that needed to be made was whether or not it was time to replace them with the real thing.

“Now, Lance, please,” mumbled Keith, his body writhing with anxious energy and pleasure.

“Only ‘cause you asked nicely,” teased Lance, pulling his fingers out so he could reach for the condoms. Lance separated one from the bunch and went to open it. “Think you brought enough?” he asked, sarcastically.

“You’ll rip the first one,” said Keith, propping himself up on his elbows.

“What? I won’t -” But of course as he said it, it tore too vigorously into the package and ripped the condom itself. “It’s the earth packaging,” mumbled Lance. “So flimsy. I’m used to the alien ones, you’ve really got give it some gusto and wait… how did you know?”

“I saw it happening,” said Keith.

Lance paused before even attempting the second condom. “So… did you see all of this?” asked Lance, gesturing his hand around the room.

“Snippets,” said Keith, shyly. “And not all in the same time flash. Don’t worry. You can still surprise me.” He pushed himself up to sitting and pulled Lance into a kiss. That was dangerous. Lance had a bad habit of forgetting what he was supposed to be doing when Keith started kissing him. Keith pulled back and said, “Want me to get that?”

“Get what?” asked Lance. Keith glanced down at what was in his hand. “Right. The condom. I got it.” Lance was more careful this time while opening. As he pulled it free of the packaging he thought, ‘This will be the lucky condom that gets to escort Lance’s penis while penetrating Keith Kogane, leader of Voltron, the Black Paladin, half-human, half-Galra, all sexy -.’

“Shut up, Lance,” said Keith.

“I wasn’t saying anything!” he protested. 

“I can see you talking to yourself in your head.”

“That’s just called thinking.”

“Well, you think too loudly and you make faces while you do it so shut up and fuck me before I decide you’re not worth the wait.”

“You asshole,” sneered Lance. Keith gave him a teasing smirk in response. “I’m going to make you regret saying that.” Lance rolled the lubricated condom over his dick.

Keith was legit biting his lip as he watched him. Lance just wanted to fuck him until he stopped looking so smug, but this was Keith’s first time bottoming and he wanted to take it as slow as he needed for his comfort.

“Ready?” asked Lance. He lined the head of his dick up with Keith’s lubed up entrance and rubbed it up and down, teasingly.

“Ready,” said Keith, laying himself all the way back down.

“Let me know if I need to slow down or stop,” Lance reminded him. “Remember our safe word?”

“Nunvil,” said Keith and that was Lance’s cue to step back. Keith rolled his eyes. “That was me reassuring you I knew our safe word, not me saying it.”

“Good,” said Lance so relieved. “Because I really want to keep going.” Lance stepped forward, between Keith’s legs and lined himself up again. He lined himself up again. “Think you can take all this?”

“I can take it.”

Lance pushed with just a little pressure, feeling a bit of resistance. He added just a little more pressure and felt a delirious sense of achievement as his cock sank in. Keith very vocally let out something between a groan and moan or was that Lance’s voice? “You okay, baby?” he asked.

“Never better,” said Keith between deep breaths.

“You’d tell me if you’re not?”

“It feels good, Lance. Having you inside me.”

Those words seemed to hit a pleasure centre in his brain all by themselves. Assured that Keith was doing well, Lance could finally focus on the incredible sensation of being inside Keith. He felt so warm and tight wrapped around him. “Can you take all of me?” asked Lance since he’d paused after the first few inches. A nod was given as agreement and Lance pushed himself further in, sheathing himself fully inside Keith. “Fuck you take my cock so good,” said Lance, pulling back out just a little then moving his full length back into Keith and causing the boy to moan. 

Was it the practice with the dildo that got Keith ready to take him or was he that hungry for Lance’s cock? He had been fantasizing about letting Lance fuck him for years thanks to his two extra in the quantum abyss. Lance thought about this as he rolled his hips, back and forth, pulling out and pushing in. His head was spinning. He still couldn’t believe it was Keith he was fucking. Keith’s thighs he was gripping. That Keith fucking Kogane would let Lance in like this.

“How does it feel?”

“Feels so good,” moaned Keith.

“How does it feel letting me fuck you?” asked Lance.

Keith looked a mixed of confused and too blissed out to care.

“How does to feel to let a lowly cargo pilot fuck you?” Okay, what was Lance’s mouth saying? And how come while he said it he stopped his slow, careful thrusting and started speeding up to full on fucking.

“Wha – ah- what?” asked Keith. His whole body was being rocked on top of the table.

“I’m asking,” said Lance, speaking clearly, but fucking hard, “What if feels like to get fucked by the guy you didn’t even remember from the Garrison?”

“I – I don’t -” Keith didn’t seem capable of focusing on the question, Lance was really pounding him now and he was letting out this happy little whimper, closing his eyes and letting his head roll to the side.

“Look at me,” said Lance, slapping his hands down on the table on either side of Keith’s head. This startled Keith enough to open his eyes and look at Lance. Lance wondered if that had been too much, but Keith just looked at him expectantly. “I want you to look me in the eye,” said Lance, evening out his voice so he didn’t sound as aggressive as the action had been. He’d stopped moving, wondering if what he was about to say would be too much and Keith would be finished with him. “I want you to know it’s me that fucking you. I don’t want you thinking about anything else.”

“Okay,” said Keith with a nod. “Fuck me then.” Lance felt the smile crack across his lips as he immediately obeyed the command and pulled out then snapped his hips forward again eliciting an “Ah!” from Keith’s mouth.

“Say it again,” said Lance.

“Fuck me, Lance,” said Keith.

That smile turned into a wicked grin as Lance pulled back then snapped his hips forward again and again, listening to the little moans he got from Keith with every thrust, keeping deep, intense eye contact because he wanted Keith to know exactly who was doing this to him.

Lance dropped down onto his elbows, entwining his fingers his Keith’s hair so when he pounded the boy’s ass, making his whole body jerk, his hair would get tugged in the process. They were nose to nose now. “Keep asking for it,” Lance demanded.

“Fuck me,” his voice was strained.

“Use my name,” directed Lance.

“Fuck me, Lance,” said Keith, snaking his arms behind Lance’s back so he could help pull him into him.

Lance’s back was dripping with sweat. Fucking Keith’s ass felt so fucking good, but Lance’s attention was locked on Keith’s eyes. So many people had thought Keith was better than him, but this is what he was in relation to Keith. He was the one drilling Keith in the ass. He was the one feeling the fire of Red Lion burn though him and into Keith and just a hint of something more, of starlight glinting in those pools of grey, but then suddenly Keith’s eyes weren’t his own. They were yellow and the pupils stretched out like vertically like cat’s eyes.

“Keith!” gasped Lance, so startled he jolted back to standing. “Your eyes… Are you okay?”

With a look of terror, Keith slapped a hand across his eyes and rolled himself away from Lance. “Sorry,” cried Keith. “Sorry.”

“For what? What’s going on?” asked Lance, laying a concerned hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Do you know what your eyes look like right now? Do you need a mirror?”

“No, I know,” muttered Keith, weakly. “They look Galra. Sorry. I didn’t think they’d come out.”

“This has happened before?” cried Lance. “What do you mean they look Galra?” But when Lance pictured them, a lot of the Galra did have those yellow cat eyes, but Keith had human eyes. Why would they change?

As if answering Lance’s unasked question, Keith said, “They come out when I’m… upset.”

“Upset?” squeaked Lance. “I upset you?” Oh no, all that stupid dirty talk about him wanting Keith to know it was Lance fucking him. No wonder. “Keith, I am so sorry. I was being mean and I didn’t realize it was hurting your feelings and -”

“No,” said Keith, still covering his eyes, but letting Lance’s hand on his shoulder roll him to face him. “Upset isn’t the right word. Emotional. Maybe that makes more sense. When I’m conflicted? It happened once when I was fighting Shiro’s clone and now…”

“How is that anything like this situation?” asked Lance. “You’re conflicted over me?”

“Of course I am.”

“Sorry,” said Lance, feeling awful. “I thought you wanted to do this.”

“I did,” said Keith, urgently. “No, this isn’t – ugh – I want this, but that’s part of the issue. Wanting you so badly when I know I can’t really have you.”

“Oh,” said Lance. It was hard having this conversation with Keith hiding his eyes. He placed his hand on top of Keith’s and entwined his fingers. “I don’t care what they look like, Keith. Can I just look at you?” Lance let him pull his hand back and saw grey eyes gazing up at him. “They’ve changed back already.” Keith sighed in relief. “I miss you,” he said honestly. “But that’s not a good enough reason to be doing this.” Lance needed to leave. He just needed to get away from all this and he started to pull away, but Keith hooked a leg around his hip.

“Wait,” said Keith, his voice so soft it made Lance’s heart ache one more time. “We’ve come this far and I know… I know we both know this is dumb and self-indulgent and at best we’re setting back any chance we have of getting over each other in the near future, but that’s not enough reason for me to want to stop.”

Lance looked at him sideways. “Keith –”

“Look, this is my first, okay?” said Keith, firmly. “And I feel like I should decide how it goes and if you leave now I’m just going to assume it’s because my Galra eyes disgusted you. I’m going to associate those eyes with you walking away.”

“Keith, this isn’t about your eyes. I wouldn’t care if you grew pointed ears and sprouted purple fur. I believe it is a well-documented fact that I’m into alien strange. This is about continuing to fool ourselves.”

“I wanna be foolish,” said Keith, taking Lance’s hand. “I wanna be the fool with you and pretend everything is okay and the human race isn’t on the edge of extinction and in two hours we need to go stop the planet from being blown up and -” Keith was shocked quiet as Lance pulled him up against him in a tight hug. “Sorry,” mumbled Keith. “I know you don’t like comforting me all the time.”

“That’s only when it’s one sided,” said Lance. “All this stuff weighs on me too.”

“I don’t want this moment to be over,” said Keith, speaking into Lance’s shoulder. “Because when we walk out of here it’s…” Over. Truly over. 

This time when Lance kissed Keith, it wasn’t because he was horny, it was because he needed Keith on a deeper level. He needed to seek comfort in him because even though he made him feel uncertain, he could also make him feel so safe. “Are you sure?” asked Lance as he lowered Keith back onto his back.

“I’m sure,” said Keith. This time Lance entered Keith with ease, filling him up like he belonged there. The problem was even though Lance wanted this, he felt so deeply sad. Keith could tell his mood so he said, “Pretend with me,” with a reassuring smile.

“Okay, love,” said Lance, because in his pretend scenario he spoke like that to Keith. He dropped down onto his elbows, hovering himself above Keith’s chest and he lazily rolled his hips. The way Keith responded to him, like he was molasses under him, was beautiful. Lance admired Keith’s long, slender neck and went in for a kiss, suckling there, hearing at close range his breathing increase speed, letting out soft little “mmm’s” on the exhale.

“You’re so good, Lance,” mumbled Keith, tangling a hand in his hair. That bit of praise lit a spark of joy inside Lance. Lance bit down on his neck and listened to the sharp little gasp escape Keith’s lips.

“I wonder,” mused Lance, nuzzling Keith’s neck with his nose. “If you like it to hurt a little.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lance bit down on his neck again and Keith cried out, “Yes.”

“Sounds like you do know,” said Lance, he pushed himself back up to standing and got a nice view of the little blush on Keith’s face. 

Lance hooked his arms behind Keith’s knees tugged him towards him. It was just an inch closer, but it lodged Lance’s full length into Keith and made him react with a sexy little, “Ah!”

“Let’s see how good you take this cock,” said Lance, pulling himself all the way out and hearing Keith’s weak little whimper when he slipped out, but then he yanked at Keith’s knees pulling Keith’s body against him making his cock push all the way in and causing Keith to cry out. Lance had never heard that noise before. Keith wasn’t quiet, not with Lance always coaxing him to speak up, but Lance was definitely the loud one when it came to fucking. “Want to me to do it again?” asked Lance, he needed to know for sure this kind of rough fucking was okay with Keith.

Keith gave him a nod. 

“Say it.”

“Again. More,” said Keith.

Encouraged, Lance repeated the action, feeling his own spike in pleasure ripping through him every time he slammed Keith’s body onto his cock. He could get lost in this feeling, in experiencing Keith like this. He saw Keith reach to jerk himself off and Lance batted it away and took his leaking cock into his own hand. He wanted to be completely responsible for what Keith was going to experience. He wanted to annihilate him. It became his mission and he continued to pound his ass, gripping his thigh in one arm and beating Keith off with his free hand.

“Oh Lance…, “ sighed Keith as he slipped over the edge, his moans filling up the large war room like music to Lance’s ears. He loved Keith’s voice and how it could flip between soft and gruff in an instant. He loved the way Keith looked beneath him, face flushed, sweat slicked hair stuck to his forehead, and those sparkling grey eyes squeezing shut as the pleasure overtook him. And he love the feeling of Keith’s cum as it spilled through his own fingers, onto Keith’s pale stomach.

It was no mystery as to why Lance starting cumming immediately after. Especially when he felt Keith tighten around his cock. Lance dove downwards, scooping an arm behind Keith’s back and pulling him into a kiss. He wanted to cum like this… To feel like this… Always… Keith was a bonfire he could hold in his arms, a promise of warmth and passion ever burning. Keith didn’t just feel like fire, he was fire.

The orgasm was intense, making his whole body tremble and quiver . He clung to Keith for dear life, unable to moan and call his name like he wanted because he couldn’t break off the kiss, couldn’t suck in the breath required to do such things. Instead his name echoed in his head… 

Keith…

And he kept kissing him long after he finished, not prepared to pull away. He managed to pull back just an inch, just to see those eyes and reassure himself they were still connecting before kissing Keith again. Maybe it was the euphoria talking, but… Lance wasn’t so certain he’d only imagined being in love with Keith.


	5. Lance's Lion Heart Part III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has a heart to heart with Shiro

Nothing could’ve prepared Lance for the end, for when they did pull apart and mopped up as best they could. (Keith had not thought to bring wipes or anything like that.) Suddenly it was quiet as they dressed and when Lance sought to meet Keith’s eye, to see if he was still with him, he found the boy politely avoiding eye contact. Lance wanted to ask the proper check in questions, ask if Keith was sore at all, how he was feeling afterwards, at the very least crack a joke to lighten the mood, but the silence in the room was strangling his voice. 

“Thank you for doing that,” said Keith as he buttoned up his shirt, facing away.

“Is that what you’re going to say? A formal thank you? Like I just performed a prostate exam.”

“What do you want me to say?”

Lance wondered why Keith kept his back turned. He wondered if he was hiding Galra eyes again. “Can you look at me?” Keith looked back over his shoulder. Grey eyes. That wasn’t the reason he was hiding from Lance. 

His stomach twisted. Suddenly everything felt wrong. The reason sex with Keith was so amazing was because of how Keith opened up to him in those moments, how he was vulnerable, but he didn’t like him shutting down immediately afterwards. Lance had spent the moments after sex searching his feelings while Keith had spent it putting on a mask. This felt like Naxzela. Keith had might as well have run away after. 

“You okay?” asked Keith. What a loaded question.

“Yeah, just want to shower before the mission,” lied Lance. He walked to the door, needing a quick retreat, but the door didn’t open.

“Here,” said Keith, appearing next to him and punching in the passcode.

“Keith, how do you know the code to the door? We’re ranked as cadets here and we don’t exactly have any manner of security clearance.”

“I saw it in a vision. Thought it might be important so I memorized it. Didn’t even know it was connected to this time flash until I was looking at the door.”

Something Lance had known going in, but had failed to process finally clicked. “This never would’ve happened if you hadn’t seen it happen,” muttered Lance. The realization was cold, bringing up goose bumps on Lance’s skin. 

“Maybe not,” said Keith. 

“I don’t know how to do this next part,” stated Lance.

“Well, you just stand in front of the door and it should open automatically.”

“I’m not talking about the door, Keith,” snapped Lance. “I’m talking about us. I feel like you’ve left me again and I’m remembering how it felt before and it feels terrible. I was so alone after you left. Why did you go?”

“I thought we went over this already. I got scared you’d regret the night we spent together and -”

“No, not when you left after Naxzela, not after we slept together. Why did you leave the first time when you quit the team and left for the Blades? I – I needed you there. We were just starting to get close to one another and you left.” Lance looked at Keith.

Keith swallowed before speaking. “You’d already volunteered to leave once. I had to go so you’d stay.”

Lance hadn’t expected that answer, had never dreamed that Keith had left to protect Lance’s spot on the team. It made him feel awful for so many reasons, that his insecurity or perhaps even his inadequacy as a Paladin had driven Keith away. That Keith leaving was his fault.

“Well…,” said Lance. “I’m the one leaving now.” Lance stepped in front of the doors and they opened so he could go.

Lance showered and got into his Paladin suit. He was early for the mission deployment so he decided to walk around and try clear his head. He took the elevator down to the hanger, which was a flurry of activity. He felt too exposed, like he was walking around with this torment showing on his face. He quickly ducked down the first hall he came across. 

“Lance, you okay?”

Lance turned to see Shiro approach. “Fine. Just getting my head in the game. Patience yields focus or whatever.” Lance tried to put on his usual fake smile, but felt like it didn’t fit him anymore. He was too tired to hold it on his face.

He could tell Shiro wasn’t buying it. “Lance, I’m not going to keep pretending I don’t know what’s been going on with you and Keith.”

“What?” asked Lance, completely blindsided.

“You’ve been seeing each other off and on since Naxzela,” said Shiro, casually. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

“What... makes... you say that?”

“Well for one, you came out to me as bisexual and said you had feelings for a male friend.”

“That could be anyone,” stammered Lance. “That could be you. I could be hot for teacher.”

Shiro gave him the most exhausted look. “Well, that and you slept in Keith’s room the night after the Naxzela battle then the next morning I ran into you carrying his dirty sheets around in the hall. On journey home, whenever I slept over in the Black Lion, Keith would disappear in the middle of the night and appear back in the morning. Then there was that time you tried to call Keith privately from your Lion while completely naked. Then there was that time Keith was over in your Lion and when he popped up on the com screen he was all red and –“

“Okay! So we were completely obvious!” yelled lance. 

“Also,” continued Shiro, “you two keep bouncing between deliriously happy and devastated. Right now you seem devastated. So I ask again, are you okay?”

“No,” said Lance, his shoulders slumping forward.

“You wanna tell me why?”

Lance wasn’t sure if he could just open up off months of keeping it all to himself, sharing only with his diary, but then suddenly he found his voice. “It’s because... because Keith only wants me for sex and Allura only ever wanted me as a shoulder to cry on and neither of them ever wanted all of me and I just feel like I’m broken and that’s why no one ever loves the whole me!” He pretty much shouted it.

“Lance,” said Shiro, softly, pulling him into a hug. “You are not broken and I’m sorry you’re feeling this way because you don’t deserve it.”

The tears welled up in Lance’s eyes and began to spill down his cheeks. “I don’t understand, Shiro. I put myself out there with both of them and they both hurt me. I don’t know how to keep going when it feels like no one’s ever going to love me.”

“They will, Lance. And love you in a way you want to be loved. I don’t think you’re getting hurt because anything in wrong with you. I think it has more to do with the people you’re attracted to. Allura and Keith aren’t the most emotionally mature people.”

“Don’t you mean I’m immature?”

“Lance, no, you’re actually highly emotionally intelligent.”

“What?” questioned Lance. “I don’t think you meant to use the word ‘intelligent’ in relation to me.”

“Lance,” said Shiro, pulling back, but keeping his hands resting on Lance’s shoulders, “I can’t believe you don’t know this about yourself. Out of everyone on the team, you’re the one who is there the moment anyone is struggling and you always find the right words to help them through it. That’s a real gift.” Lance wasn’t certain how to take legitimate compliments, at least not this nature of compliment. “Unfortunately, Keith and Allura aren’t nearly as self-aware as you are. They really are a lot of like.”

“They’re alike?” asked Lance, stepping back to lean against the wall.

“You didn’t notice you fell in love with two stubborn aliens who are bad at feelings? You really have a type, Lance,” chuckled Shiro. “Keith and Allura both went through a lot of trauma when they were younger and lost their families. With a start like that it makes it harder to trust anyone will stay put.”

“Allura managed to trust Lotor just fine,” said Lance, bitterly, but then he softened. “But I guess we all trusted him…”

“With Keith, I’m afraid I’ve played a part in his issues too. I left him… more than once. If anyone has abandonment issues, it’s Keith.” Shiro looked off down the hall, like he was searching for something he lost. “I actually relate to Keith a lot. My home life when I was younger wasn’t stable. I had trust issues and, like you Lance, took a bit longer to figure out my sexuality.”

“What… changed? I mean, you seem like a really well adjusted adult clone of yourself.”

Shiro laughed at the dig. “Well, I made a friend. Someone who was highly emotionally intelligent who helped me feel stable for the first time in my life. Helped me find myself.”

“What happened to them?” asked Lance.

“Well, I planned to marry him, but we broke up right before I left for Kerberos.”

“Sorry,” said Lance. “Can I ask why?”

Shiro sighed. “I had something major trigger my old insecurities. I… I haven’t told any one this on the team beyond Keith, but I was diagnosed with a major illness.”

“Shiro,” gasped. “I didn’t know. Are you -”

“I’m okay now. This clone body has a clean bill of health. Ironically, dying saved my life. But at the time, even though we knew I was sick when we got engaged, I began worrying that he couldn’t be actually be happy with a husband that was dying.”

“But… he chose you, Shiro.”

“I know, but once I got the idea in my head I kept feeling more and more like I wasn’t enough for him. That he’d be better off without me. I found myself putting up walls, pushing him away, and sabotaging our relationship in tiny ways that added up. Then as he pulled away as a result, I took it as evidence that he didn’t love me. When the opportunity came up for me to go on the Kerberos mission, Adam wanted me to stay, to spend one of my few healthy years with him, but I decided to go anyway, figuring us breaking up was what was best for him.”

Shiro must’ve been talking about Professor Adam. Lance had noticed the last couple semesters he hadn’t been his usual peppy self. He must’ve really missed Shiro and been upset when he thought he was dead. But then Adam… “Wait – Professor Adam… He… Oh, Shiro, I’m so sorry.” Lance was starting to cry again.

“You really are an empath,” said Shiro, with an affectionate look. “The point I wanted to make is, Keith has a tendency to put up walls when he’s scared of being hurt and when people react badly because he’s pushing them away, he takes that as evidence that he’s not good enough.”

“Okay,” said Lance, with a nod. “I understand what I need to do. I need to try harder with Keith. I need to break down those walls and -.”

“Lance, no,” said Shiro. “You know I love and respect both you and Keith, you’re like family to me, but if Keith is pulling away, I’m sorry but there isn’t anything you can do. Not without draining yourself emotionally.”

“But don’t you wish Adam had tried harder to keep you?”

“Lance, he did try. When I reflect on what happened between us, I can see how hard he fought to keep us together and how much of a toll it took on him. By the time Kerberos came up he was emotionally exhausted. And honestly Lance, there’s not a thing he could’ve done to have gotten me to stay because it was my issue and he couldn’t fix it.

“I’m not going to tell you what to do with Keith, but in relationships you shouldn’t have to put much more than fifty percent of the work in, even if it comes naturally to you to be the one that tries harder. Part of being highly emotionally intelligent is being empathic, able to feel other people’s emotions. I think the hard thing with that would be, since you feel when others are in pain, you neglect your own feelings to take care of theirs.”

“Oh… right…”

“It’s make you special, Lance. It’s the reason you the one I tried to reach out to in the astral plane. You were the one most open to connecting with me. You open yourself up to others so easily and willingly. But Keith needs to take care of his own shit.”

Lance was surprised to hear Shiro swear. This really was a very different kind of conversation. He liked old Shiro inside clone Shiro. “I hear what you’re saying and it makes sense. I just don’t… I don’t wanna give up.”

“Lance, I wanna tell you something that I wish I’d known. If your love isn’t everlasting, that doesn’t make you failure. It makes you a person, just like the rest of us. It also doesn’t mean that time was wasted, not if you enjoyed the time you spent together.”

“Thanks, Shiro… That really helps. Can I ask if you regret how things ended with Adam?”

“I have had a lot of time to reflect on this when I was in the Gladiator pits and then again when was in the astral plane. If I continued to be angry with myself for ending things, it would just be continuing the self-hatred that created our problems in the first place. I’ve made peace with it. I am sad he died, but he did so defending Earth from Sendak’s invasion. Today I’ll honour him by continuing his fight.”

Lance hugged Shiro, feeling that floaty arm wrap around his back. There was a reason Shiro had always been his hero.


	6. Keith's Lion Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith finds a strange supporter in Pidge

Keith looked in the mirror as he got dressed. The marks Lance had left on his neck were darkening. He pulled his undersuit over top of it, grateful it was a turtleneck. How fitting that his armor would hide the pain caused by Lance. He would hide behind his leader persona. It was all he had left.

Leaning close to the mirror, Keith doubled checked that his eyes were still human. The only reason he even knew he was capable of changing his eyes was because Shiro had described what he’d seen during their battle, days later, when his consciousness was in his clone body. He hadn’t expected his Galra eyes to come out during sex, but he was glad Lance had reacted so well. 

He knew the thought that had triggered them. Lance had reminded him of the Garrison, of when he’d been so dismissive towards him. When after a year apart, it had taken him a minute to even remember Lance’s face. In the heat of the moment, as Lance demanded he look him in the eyes and think of only him, it occurred to Keith he’d know Lance’s face until the day he died – which could be a few hours from now or when he’s ninety… Or older if the Galra part of him has anything to say about it – He could pick out Lance’s face in a crowd, conjure it in his dreams, sketch it from memory… He would never not know him, know the face of his first love. That’s the emotion that had brought out those eyes.

Suited up, Keith rode the elevator down to the hanger to rendezvous with the others and the MFE pilots. The hanger was busy, full of Garrison uniforms in a flurry of activity, but Keith’s eyes picked out a patch of green amongst the orange and beige. Pidge was sitting on top of a random crate marked ‘Dangerous,’ scrolling away on her computer. She was so distracted, she didn’t notice Keith approach which was perfectly normal for her.

“Hey Pidge,” said Keith, deliberately using his ‘leader’ voice. Pidge jumped, startled by his voice, which was her usual when she was zoned into her computer nerd stuff. What was weird is that she slammed her screen shut, as if she didn’t want Keith to see what was on it. Strange, it’s not like he ever understood it anyway.

“Uh, yes, Keith? Uh what?” asked Pidge, a deep blush entering her face. Weird…

“I’m going to have you ride with Razavi to Base Five.”

“Okay,” said Pidge.

“You should probably get ready, we’ll be launching soon.”

“Will we?” said Pidge, getting that smug look she gets when she’s done something both awesome and illegal, like hack the Garrison’s security network, (which she’d done the first night they’d arrived back on Earth.) “I guess I lost track of time. I was remotely downloading status reports from the Lions when I got immersed reading this dirty story.”

Keith blinked. “Have fun with that.” 

Keith turned to walk away, but in that same teasing, sing-song tone Pidge said, “It’s written by someone we knooooow.”

“Is that someone you?” asked Keith, looking over his shoulder. “’Cause we all kinda pegged you for that type of person.”

“Not me,” said Pidge. “Someone else on the team. Someone dumb enough to find a inventory logging program I installed on his console and use it as a diary…”

“Lance,” said Keith then realization hit him. “Oh no…”

The grin that grew on Pidge’s face… “Oh yes…”

“No, no, no…”

“To be honest, I wondered if Lance was trolling me, but now seeing your face…”

Keith had never been so humiliated in his life. “How much? How much did he… share?”

“Everything,” said Pidge, confidently. “I mean, as far as I know… It cuts off after we left the Lions on Saturn so it’s possible I’ve missed something…” Pidge raised her eyebrows at Keith, as if asking a question.

Keith scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. “You shouldn’t read other people’s diaries! It’s a violation of Privacy!”

“Not if it’s written in an inventory log. Besides, I would’ve stopped once I realized it was Lance’s diary, but the opening line was too intriguing. ‘I banged Keith yesterday.’ So poetic. Grabbed me right away.” Keith winced. Of course Lance had worded it that way. “Next thing I know, an hour’s passed and I’ve read every dirty detail. I can’t believe you two were having so much fun with the rest of us none the wiser. Though the more I think about it, the more it adds up…”

“So I assume you want something in order to keep quiet.”

“What? No! Well… I’m surprised it didn’t occur to me to blackmail you. Actually, I was just going to be a pal and check in on you. I just read that you two broke up… So you doing okay, buddy?”

“I’m fine,” lied Keith.

“Okay, did my duty. Now I’m going to ring out your balls.”

“Huh?”

“Did you seriously break up with Lance because you’re jealous of Allura? You’re an idiot.”

“How does that make me an idiot?” snapped Keith. “He was in love with her.”

“Yeah, past tense. Do you seriously expect Lance to have never had feelings for anyone else? It’s Lance! When we were at the Garrison, he once wrote a love poem to the lady on the syrup bottle. He’s a hopeless romantic. He spreads that love around.”

“Well, forgive me for wanting to be special,” Keith grumbled.

“Okay well, A. You picked him so that’s what you’re into and B. I bet if I did a word search on Lance’s diary, your name would out number Allura’s at least ten to one. I’m not an expert in these things – heck, I’m not even a novice – so the only way I can understand it is by looking at the numbers and if I were a betting man, you’re the horse I’d put my money on.”

“Thanks for the advice, Pidge,” said Keith.

“Oh, this isn’t advice,” said Pidge, opening up her laptop. “I have zero investment in your love life. I clearly labeled the topic of this chat as calling you out for being an idiot.”

“Then thanks for calling me out.”

“No problem. Us innies have to stick together. Secret introverts club?” Pidge lifted up her hand and turned it so the back of her hand was facing Keith.

Keith looked around to make sure no one was watching then gave her their secret high five by hitting the back of her hand with the back of his. “Secret introvert club,” he repeated. It’s worth noting that this is only the second time the Secret Introverts Club had ever convened. That was the whole point of Secret Introverts Club. “Oh, and… there’s some security footage from the War Room from about an hour ago --”

“Consider it deleted,” said Pidge.

“Thanks,” said Keith, turning to go then he spun back. “Don’t watch it first!”

“Gross. I wasn’t going to. I prefer literary porn.”

“Right.” Keith walked off. He wanted to rendezvous with the MFE’s team leader, Griffin, to coordinate launch times. That’s when he rounded a corner and came into full view of Lance and Shiro, hugging and Lance was… crying? Oh no…

Keith immediately dipped back behind the corner. He stayed there, frozen with worry and guilt. Also, he really needed to walk that way. That’s when Lance walked by, not seeming to notice him. “Hey,” said Keith, despite the fact that his brain told him to just let Lance go without drawing attention to himself.

Lance stopped at the sound of his voice, looking a bit surprised to see him right there. “Uh, hey,” said Lance.

“Are you okay?” asked Keith.

“What?”

“I saw you with Shiro just now…”

“Oh,” said Lance with a roll of his eyes. “And let me guess. You’re jealous. Think I’m climbing all over that hunk of finely aged daddy gay.”

“No,” said Keith, embarrassed. “I just saw you crying and wanted to check in with you. You said you were okay earlier, but if you’re not okay, you can talk to me.”

“No, Keith, I can’t talk to you about this,” snapped Lance. “You caused this!”

“I – I’m sorry…”

Lance sighed, relaxing his expression. “I don’t mean to snap. I know I said before I’d wanted you to be there to comfort me, but that could only happen if we were together. You can’t help me when you’re the one I’m heartbroken over, but I appreciate the attempt.”

“I’m sorry I made things worse then.”

“Things were already at worse,” said Lance, the corner of his lip turning up with just a hint of a smile.

“There is something I want to talk to you about,” admitted Keith.

Lance sighed. “I really don’t think I can take anymore break up talk.”

“It has more to do with Voltron…”

“Oh, okay.”

“Well us and Voltron…”

Lance looked curious. “Yeah?”

“It’s about that thing Shiro had said about us needing to have a team balance in order to be able to power our Lions.”

“Right.”

Keith rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at the ground. “Allura thought it was her that made the difference, that threw things off, but the more I think about it, I wonder if it’s us…” Keith peeked up at Lance. Lance looked like he was still processing. “We’re the wild card relationship in the group. We’re the ones that are off and on and I wonder how much that effects Voltron.”

Lance closed his eyes and let out a deep puff of air. “So on top of everything else, our Lions not working is my fault too?”

“What? No! I’m not saying it’s you, it’s us that’s throwing things off.” Keith gestured between the two of them.

“There is no us.”

“Which is the problem!”

“What does that mean?” demanded Lance.

Oh no… This was going badly. Keith shouldn’t have said anything. He should’ve taken Pidge’s advice and not been an idiot and at the very least apologized to Lance for his jealously over Allura. “I don’t know what I meant. Can we forget I said anything?”

“Keith,” said Lance, now angry, stepping close to him so no one would overhear. “An hour ago we fucking on a table and you weren’t the least bit concerned about balancing our relationship for Voltron.”

Keith blushed. He’d really screwed up. He’d convinced himself the War Room was a freebie since he’d seen it in his vision. He hadn’t stopped to think how Lance would take it afterwards. Agreeing to rules beforehand does nothing. You can’t predict emotional backlash.

“You’re completely right,” said Keith. “This is my fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. Sorry to bother you.” Keith walked off, ignoring Lance calling for him to stop.

Twenty feet away he ran into Pidge and literally scooped her under one arm and steered her so she could walk with him and not run into Lance.

“What’s going on?” asked Pidge.

“I made it worse.”

“How?”

“I just made it worse, okay?”

“HOW?!”

“Keith!”

Keith turned and saw Lance had caught up to him. He scooted Pidge behind his back so she was hidden from view. “Yes?”

“I really wish you wouldn’t keep ending conversations without checking that I’m done with what I have to say…” Lance’s eyes drifted to the side. “Are you hiding Pidge behind your back?”

“No,” lied Keith.

“Hi Lance,” said Pidge, waving an arm out from behind Keith’s back. “I read your diary. Hot stuff. EL James got nothin’ on you.”

Lance turned pink. “I specifically told you not to read that!”

“It’s adorable that you thought that would deter me rather than encourage me.”

Lance crossed his arms then looked back at Keith’s face. “Fine. It seems everyone must know about us by now so I’ll just say it. Shiro thinks I should move on from you.”

“Shiro said that?” asked Keith, pain in his voice.

“Pidge votes you go for it,” muttered Pidge. Keith shushed her.

“If Voltron needs balance then maybe the best thing is to agree that this is over rather than leaving things uncertain,” said Lance, looking down at the ground. “For the sake of the team.”

“Right,” said Keith, looking down at his feet. 

“So before I go, anything else you want to say?” Lance looked up at him, expectantly. “Don’t want to just drop something on you and run off like other people I know.”

“No,” said Keith at the same time Pidge said, “Yes.” He kicked back his heel. It connected with her shin and she let out a yelp.

“Okay,” said Lance. “I guess if all goes according to plan, I’ll see you both when we form Voltron and attack Sendak’s fleet.”

“See you then,” said Keith as he watched Lance walk away.

“You’re still an idiot,” said Pidge, kicking him in the calves as payback. 

“Ow!”

“Lance is an idiot and Shiro’s a fucking idiot and you’re the hugest idiot.”

“I thought you didn’t care.”

“I don’t,” said Pidge, heading off on her own, but then she yelled over her shoulder, “I don’t understand you allosexuals!”


	7. Lance's Lion Heart Part IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An encounter with Allura complicates things for Lance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This contains a canon Allurance moment. Please no hate. I can twist any Allurance that comes to serve Klance.

Now that Lance thought about it, Shiro was right, Keith was emotionally immature. Case in point, Keith had just decided to inform Lance that their rocky relationship was why Voltron often couldn’t charge on it’s own. No solution for that either. Just a “here’s the bad news, gotta go!” A classic Keith hit-and-run, which is what Lance had nicknamed those times Keith decided to blurt out something awful to Lance then immediately leave so he didn’t have to deal with the fallout.

Surprisingly Shiro had recommended Lance let Keith go. This was hard to imagine, his heart was so full of him, but if Keith wasn’t going to grow up, what chance was there for ever reconciling? Lance felt angry towards Keith because yes, he understood why Keith was so bad at this, but he wished that he was worth Keith changing for. But nothing is ever that simple.

Lance tried to refocus himself on the mission at hand as he walked to meet Veronica. He’d be transported to Base One soon and he needed to wrap his head around summoning Red. Maybe he’d confess to Veronica what was on his mind. Maybe if unloaded it, he’d be able to focus on the mission. Of course this meant coming out to his sister as bisexual… He was just going to have to push through and tell her or else he’d end up stewing the whole drive. His heartbreak over Keith felt like smoldering embers in his gut.

He found his sister on the tarmac loading up the special Garrison jeep. What had she called it? The A&W-Cruiser? “Hey, Big Strong Hero!” she called out when she saw him approaching.

“Hey, Girl Friday,” said Lance.

“Shut up,” said Veronica with a roll of her eyes. Boy, Lance had really missed his big sister. “You ready?”

“Yep,” said Lance. Lance lifted himself up onto the Cruiser foothold. The Particle Barrier was already dissolving in preparation for the mission deployment.

“Lance?”

“Huh?” Lance stopped what he was doing and looked down at the Princess. He was surprised to see her there instead of meeting up with her assigned MFE pilot. Maybe she had a last minute mission order.

“I uh – I just wanted to say,” Allura stammered. She trailed off as her eyes shifted to Veronica who was just behind Lance. 

“Hm?” huffed his sister as Lance sensed her shrink back behind him. 

Why was Veronica acting so weird? But that’s when Lance really took in Allura, the deepening blush on her cheeks, the nervous shifting of her feet. Then her eyes softened as her gaze lowered and a tiny smile appeared on her face. “I just wanted to say… stay safe out there.”

A memory rose to the surface of Lance’s mind, one of Allura leaving with Lotor in the Sincline ship. How badly Lance wanted to tell her that he cared for her, that he wanted her, that because he’d saved her life and she’d given him back his it felt like it meant something, that they would always be connected. But, unable to express this, he simply told her, ‘Get back safe’ and put the depth of his emotion into his tone, hoping she could feel what he meant.

He heard himself in her voice, saw himself in the way she stood before him, in the gentleness of her face, the colour in her cheeks… She was the reflection in the water of how he’d felt in that moment. For the first time since meeting her, Allura was open to him. After over a year of drought and teasingly dark clouds, the sky had opened up and rain was pouring down, extinguishing the embers in his stomach and soothing the pain of the burn. How he’d missed the rain…

“You too, Allura,” replied Lance. He felt like all the blood in his body had rushed to his cheeks. Lance watched her walk away, feeling the soothing, cool waters pool in his stomach. He sighed, turning back to the Cruiser. He actually felt light headed and giddy.

“Looks like the Princess likes you back,” said Veronica.

“What?” cried Lance, startled. He’d completely forgotten Veronica was watching. He turned away to hide his blush as he crossed his arms. “That’s crazy! She just cares about everyone because… she’s awesome like that…”

The ride to the base was quiet. He needed to focus and find his connection with his Lion. Lance had worried his emotions over Keith would’ve prevented this, but all the tension had been washed away with a blush and stammered wish that he’d stay safe.

“Paladins,” came Shiro’s voice over the comlink, “our window of opportunity is razor thin. With the element of surprise, we’ll have the advantage. Good luck.”

Lance closed his eyes. He sank deep into his mind space to find his connection to Red. It was cold, but refreshing. He was floating, the only movement a gentle current. This had been his happy place as a child. Wading into the waves at Verdera Beach. Pinching his nose and letting his body sink under. The water would mute the sound of the surface world, but if he opened his eyes he could see the wonders of the deep. So deep. Too deep, no… He was too deep. He wasn’t allowed to swim out this far. Where was the shoreline? More importantly, where was the surface? He’d been under too long, his breath was running out and what he’d been searching for wasn’t even down here. Where was Red? Where was the fire? The flame? It can’t exist here underwater! He needed to swim upwards...

Zap…BOOM!

An explosion rocked Lance out of his trance. Veronica swerved the Cruiser, avoiding a crash only to have another shot nearly hit them. Veronica cried out.

“We’ve been spotted!” yelled Lance. The Cruiser’s console reported three Galra drone ships following them. “Watch out, okay? Be careful!”

“I know!” yelled Veronica, dodging shots from the drone ships. She couldn’t shake them. There was no way to take evasive maneuvers when they were out in the open in the desert. All she could do was drive serpentine in hopes of the shots continuing to miss.

“Whoa!” cried Lance after another near hit, he looked behind them and saw one of the drone ships on their six. “Veronica, look out!” He saw the drone fire. There was a loud explosion and then the entire world went spinning. Was he flying? Falling? Colliding? He could hear his own voice screaming in his ears and then… 

Black… 

Quiet…

It was so dark underwater. What was he doing again? He’d just been searching for something, but he couldn’t remember what. Now it was night and no rays of sunlight were piercing the depths. There was no hope of figuring out which way the surface was. It was easier to relax and let the water have him. To sleep and become one with it… So peaceful and quiet…

But…

Not perfectly quiet. Voices. Muffled by water. Couldn’t make them out. His name maybe? Who was calling him? But then the answer came to him… The other Paladins. He’d forgotten about them. That’s when he saw it, the glow of something bright above him. Something was above the surface, lighting his way, a beacon that pulled him upwards. There was fire up there. He remembered now. He just needed to break the surface and he’d reach it. His fingertips stretched upwards as he kicked his legs. His hand broke free of the water and he felt the warmth before his head came up to gasp his first breath.

“Lance? Lance, come in!”

Keith?

Lance opened his eyes and it was so bright and dry. He wasn’t above the water, he was on the ground. He hadn’t reached that fire, the fire had reached him and it was raging through him, waking him up, getting him standing.

He heard weapons firing and suddenly remembered. They’d been driving together. Him and… “Veronica? Veronica!” Lance looked around and saw the Cruiser on its side. They’d crashed and he must’ve been thrown clear, but where was Veronica? Then he spotted her, her crumpled body lying between him and the wreck “No!”

He ran towards her, a wildfire burning inside him. His Paladin suit had absorbed most of the shock from the crash, but Veronica’s suit was only Garrison issue. When Lance reached her, he gently took her in his arms. She groaned. Still alive. Such a relief. “Veronica.”

“Lance…”

“Veronica, you’re okay.”

A shot hit the ground right beside Lance. He looked up. Sentries and drones had found them. Lance had his shield activated before the barrage of fire began. He dug the shield into the ground to provide cover and activated his bayard in blaster form. Four shots and each one connected with a drone on sentry. 

His attention was stolen by the sound of a drone ship, flying straight towards them. The drone ship fired. It wasn’t a direct hit, but it overloaded his shield and it deactivated. Dust was kicked up from the shots that hit the ground around him, blinding Lance’s vision. He lunged forward into a spot he could see. Screaming he fired at the approaching ship. His shots struck it over and over and over.

Nothing.

The shots just bounced off the surface of the drone ship. It was flying so low, coming so close. It was going to ram them. There was no way to stop it. Lance had failed to protect his sister. He’d failed to call his Lion. He lowered his weapon as he came to accept that he would die. He didn’t regret much else, but… He wished his last moments with Keith had been better... His eyes closed. Thoughts of Keith made flames dance behind his eyelids.

CRASH!

The sound came out of nowhere. Lance felt the blow back from an impact, but nothing hit him. When the dust settled, he looked up and there was Red, sitting on top of the drone ship like cat that had just caught a bird. He roared in greeting.

Lance could only just stare and gape at his Lion who was very late to the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter of this work in the series will be going up by Thursday night! Come back here to read it before season 8 canon ruins my work. Just kidding, whatever they give us, I will someone make it seem like it fits with what I wrote.


	8. Lance's Trial by Fire and Keith's Pride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle proves be a test of feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATED NOTE!!!!! I am simply updating the note at the beginning of the chapter in hopes notifying those subscribed that the first chapter of the fourth work in this series in now up. Hit 'next work' or here's the link for Shot Through the Heart https://archiveofourown.org/works/17017623/chapters/40007124 Also, I highly recommend subscribing to the series https://archiveofourown.org/series/1159664 as my plan for four parts may turn into five parts OR subscribing to me as a user and that way you will always get update notifications on all future works in the series. You can also simply bookmark the series to read at your own pace.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!!!
> 
> BBBK xoxoxox

Keith was circling in the Black Lion outside his base when he was thrown into a panic by the sound of Lance’s scream through the comlink. From what he’d heard moment before, the AW-Cruiser was under attack. After the scream… nothing. Nothing from Lance.

Where was Red? Why wasn’t he with Lance? Why didn’t he arrive to protect him?

Keith tried to calm himself enough to reach out with his mind. Through Black he could check in on the other Lions. Three pillars of light: Blue, Green, Yellow, but where was Red? No, he had to push on. Go deeper into Black’s consciousness to search for Red’s connection. He had been Red’s Paladin, there had to be something there. He needed something… a spark, a flicker… He’d light that flame in his own heart if he could be that beacon that brought Red to Lance, brought Lance back to him…

The others were calling out Lance’s name, begging him to respond. Keith opened his eyes, the tears slipping out and joined his voice to the others. “Lance? Lance, come in!” he ordered.

‘I would burn up my heart to light your way home…’

Keith collapsed forward in despair. He couldn’t believe how he’d left things with Lance. Maybe he’d never be able to properly express what Lance meant to him, but he could’ve tried! He could’ve stuffed all that sentiment into whatever pathetic string of dumb words he was sure to spew, but at least then maybe it would’ve made Lance happy and he could’ve seen him smile one last time.

“Veronica? Veronica!” Lance’s voice came through on his comlink and it sounded like the most beautiful thing Keith had ever heard. He had to slap his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing from pure joy.

Lance wasn’t out of the woods though. He could hear through the comlink that he was under fire. With bated breath, Keith sat on the edge of Black’s seat, willing Red to go to Lance. Screaming in his head, ‘Don’t give up, Lance! Don’t you dare give up! Don’t make the mistake I did at Naxzela and think yourself expendable. I need you!’

Keith didn’t feel alive again until he heard Lance’s voice over the com say, “Red Lion, checking in!”

******

“Lance?” Keith saying his name woke him up. For a moment there Lance thought he was back in Red’s cargo hold with Keith waking him up to kiss him goodbye before he left. But then Keith kept saying the other Paladins’ names and Lance opened his eyes and realized he was somewhere new.

That’s when it came back to him. They’d attacked the Zaiforge Cannons with their Lions, but the Galra seemed to be expecting them and they were outgunned. They failed to stop the launch. The flew into space and formed Voltron to try to destroy the cannons that way, but the cannons focused their blast on them and then… Lance must’ve passed out. Now he appeared to be alone in a cell, but he could hear Keith nearby.

“I’m here,” said Lance.

“Yeah, me too,” called Hunk. “How long we been out?”

“Looks like we’ve lost about an hour,” said Pidge.

“What happened?” asked Allura.

“We’re on Sendak’s ship,” said Keith, despair in his voice. “Admiral Sanda… She sold us out.”

“How could she?” spat Pidge.

“He said he’d leave Earth if he had the Lions,” said Admiral Sanda herself from a cell nearby. “But he lied to me. This is all my fault. I wanted to protect my people, but now I’ve doomed them. I’ve doomed them all. I’m so sorry.”

“Admiral, what is Sendak’s plan?” asked Keith.

“Sendak is moving the Zaiforge Cannons into position. He’s going to destroy Earth.” Lance could hear the devastation in her voice and he felt it too. “Please, you must know I wanted to save Earth.”

The whole ship shook. An explosion could be heard in the distance. “What was that?” gasped Lance.

“The Garrison is mounting a counterattack,” said Keith.

“My dad,” gasped Pidge, “he launched the Atlas!”

More hits shook Sendak’s ship, Lance braced himself to keep from falling.

“We need to get out there,” said Keith. “The Atlas can’t win this fight alone!”

“Guys, I have a thought,” said Hunk. “Remember how we were able to call the Lions to us on Earth? Why can’t we do that now? They might be able to break us out.”

“Calling the Lions to us and having the Lions break us out are two totally different things,” said Pidge.

“I’m not saying it’ll be easy. I’m not even saying that it’s possible, but we have to at least be willing to try,” said Hunk. “Think of our families. Think of Earth.” These words made Lance’s heart ache. They’d fought so hard for so long. I couldn’t end like this. He’d only just gotten his family back.

“Shiro said we’re capable of more than we realize,” said Keith. “Maybe it’s worth a shot. Paladins…” Keith voice filled with the confidence of a leader, but the next words he said were so soft “… Close your eyes. Connect with your Lions.”

Lance hesitated. Last time he tried this he wasn’t able to connect with Red. Honestly, wasn’t sure how he did manage to call Red to him after all, but he had a theory…

Lance looked down and closed his eyes. When he opened up his mind’s eye he was looking down at his toes as water lapped at his ankles, the tide teasingly moving in as he sunk into the wet sand. He looked up to see that perfect view of the ocean stretched out all the way to the horizon. The water was a crystal clear blue. It was so inviting, promising him its healing power, vowing to sooth all the aches in his body with its cold water. He could float there. He could be at peace there, but… he wouldn’t find Red there.

Even now he could feel the heat on his back, radiating from what was waiting for him. Lance turned around, away from the ocean, away from his past, and saw the world was on fire. He ran. He ran straight into those flames. He knew what this was, what this represented. This was Keith. This was every bit of passion and frustration, every bit of pleasure and pain. It hurt it. It burned. It seared his flesh and ate down to the bone but still he ran deeper into it because this was where Red was waiting. 

Lance had realized something. His connection with Red was inseparable from his connection with Keith. Maybe it had entwined itself somehow as he fell in love. Or maybe this was how it always had been. Allura had told him he’d become worthy of being Red’s Paladin when he accepted Keith as his leader. Did he love Keith even then? Was that just the start of him accepting his feelings?

Lance hurt. He hurt so bad. The fire was consuming him yet he knew that ocean was back there. He knew he could turn around and run to the shore and dive in and take this pain away, but he wouldn’t turn back. He’d sprint into the future because even though he only saw flame, he knew up, high above the smoke was the night sky. He could feel the earth below his feet, and though the world burned now, he knew the ashes would feed new growth and a forest would grow with water from the ocean falling as rain from the sky because this was the cycle of life. This was every Lion playing a part. Red, Blue, Black, Green, Yellow… they were all connected. Lance, Allura, Keith, Pidge, Hunk… the Paladins were all connected and as Lance thought this, just as his very spirit threatened to burn up, he found the center of the flames and then… he was somewhere new…

It was dark but then red lights faded up and he recognized Red’s cockpit, but he wasn’t sitting there. He sensed it inside of him as he looked from outside. He could see through Red’s eyes and what he saw was his fellow Lions. Together their reared back their heads and roared!

********

If Keith had a gak for every time he’d been knocked unconscious while piloting his Lion, he’d be an intergalactic Rockefeller. The worst part was the initial confusion every time he woke back up in Black’s pilot seat. He needed to catch himself up and remember all that had happened. He connected with Black and was able to pilot him remotely. Sanda had died while guarding the Paladin’s empty bodies. The Lions had broken them out of Sendak’s ship. 

They’d tried to prevent the Zaiforge Cannons from destroying Earth by using their Lions to push the lenses in front of the blasts and reflect the blast away from the planet. Eventually the lenses couldn’t hold and the Lions were hit. Keith was knocked unconscious… again… When he woke up the other Lions were attacking the cannons directly. He joined them and destroyed them while the Atlas took down Sendak’s ship. The ship fell to Earth with Shiro still on board locked in battle with Sendak. Keith had to exit Black so he could kill Sendak with his bayard sword. 

That should’ve been the end of it, but then out of nowhere a Komar Robeast fell from the sky. They’d formed Voltron and battled it, but he beast sucked the quintessence out of Voltron. Then the Atlas transformed into a giant mecha and attacked the Komar Robeast, rescuing them. The Komar turned the fight around and bested the Atlas. Keith and Lance had activated their bayards together to form the booster wings and the sword and used that sword to pierce the Komar Robeast in the open chest canon. The resulting blowback must’ve separated the Lions and caused Keith to pass out again.

“Anyone? Hello?” came Hunk’s voice over the comlink.

“I’m here” said Pidge.

“I’m here too,” said Keith.

“Blue Lion, checking in,” said Allura, sounding weak.

“Did we do it?” asked Lance. “Did we beat that thing?” No matter what was wrong, hearing Lance’s voice was a source of comfort for Keith.

“I think so,” answered Keith. The Komar Robeast was prostrate on the ground. “Atlas, what’s your status?” Keith got Black up on his feet so he could get visual. “Atlas, are you receiving me?” The Atlas was on its knees, not moving. “They’re offline.” A red light began to flash above Keith’s head. An alarm beeped.

“What is that?” asked Lance. 

“Surge indicators,” said Pidge. She flew over to the Komar Robeast in Green. “Coming from that thing.”

“I thought it was down,” said Lance.

“It is,” said Hunk, but then, “Oh no.”

“What?”

“It’s powering up. It must have some kind of self-destruct mechanism.”

“According to my readings,” said Pidge, “the blast radius alone will envelope half of the Earth.”

“Then we need to get it out of here,” said Keith with determination.

There was only one option. To lift that thing with their Lions and fly it out of the atmosphere and away from Earth. 

“Come on! Come on!” urged Keith.

But as they rose up he knew he couldn’t leave home without saying something. He opened up a private line to Red. “Lance?”

“Keith?”

“I need to say something. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was insecure and was jealous of Allura.”

“Allura?” repeated Lance.

“Yes, and I’m sorry I tried to make our problems seem like your fault. They weren’t. I’ve had a lot people I’ve loved leave on me and at some point I think I confused running away with love. It wasn’t right to run from you, but it also wasn’t right to run to you. You should’ve had some say in the matter. I’m done with running. I’m going to learn how to stand still because… it’s the only way I can ever just be with someone. I know you think this should only be said under the right circumstances, but the right time to say this to you is anytime I can… I love you, Lance. You’ve loved others, but for me it’s only ever been you. I say this without expectation, because… I really just want to see you happy.”

Keith disconnected the call, setting it back so he could speak to everyone. He’d done it. He’d found the words and he’d shared them. He hoped it at least made Lance happy.

*****

“Lance?”

“Keith?” said Lance, seeing on his console that this was a private call.

“I need to say something. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was insecure and jealous of Allur–”

“Lance?” said Allura’s voice.

“Allura?” said Lance, confused as to how she was now speaking to him as well. His console showed both private calls connected at once. That didn’t seem like it should be possible.

“Lance, I want to say -” began Allura.

“ - make our problems seem like your fault –” continued Keith.

“ - because of my bad first impression I –”

“ – people I’ve loved leave on me –”

“ – continued to misjudge you, but –”

“ – confused running away with love –”

What? WHAT? Lance couldn’t follow either of them. They were both speaking over top of each other. Did they not hear each other? No, of course not. They’d only be able to hear him and he had to speak up and say something. To explain to them they were both trying to talk to him at the exact same time.

“ – it’s the only way I can ever just be with someone –” said Keith.

“ – with Lotor even though I grew closer to you –”

How could he tell them to stop when he was getting the impression they were both pouring their hearts out. Lance didn’t now how, but this was Pidge’s fault! Why were the consoles so dumb!

“ – under the right circumstances –”

“ – realized how I felt –”

Lance’s brain couldn’t decide who to focus on and because of this he was only hearing snippets from each and not the entire context of each sentence.

“ – I can… I love –” Wait… Keith had said love… Love who? 

“ – how deep my feelings have grown –” Feelings for who?!

“ – only ever been you –”

“ – should’ve seen it before –”

What? Who was saying what? This was the most touching and confusing thing that had ever happened to Lance.

“ – I really just want to see you happy,” said Keith.

“ – and for that, thank you,” said Allura.

And then, get this, they both hung-up. Of course Keith did, but Lance hadn’t been expecting Allura to just cut off like that. Lance’s head felt light, all the while Red continued to help lift the Komar Robeast out to space. He needed to respond somehow. Lance looked at his console helplessly. WHY HADN’T HE PAID ATTENTION AND LEARNED HOW TO HAIL SOMEONE PRIVATELY?

Giving up, he said into the general chat for all to hear, “To the person who just messaged me… Thanks… It means a lot and I want to talk more… If we make it out of this…”

It was Keith who spoke next. “It’s been an honour to fly with you all. Now, everyone, give it everything you’ve got!”

Lance grabbed onto Keith’s voice and allowed it to sync him further with Red, pushing upwards. They ascended to the heavens, to outer space, praying they could bring this thing far enough out so the explosion didn’t destroy the Earth.

Lance couldn’t even begin to process the bits and pieces he’d heard from both Keith and Allura. Hours ago he’d been crying that no one truly loved him… not romantically and now it was possible he was loved by one… or both. He didn’t know what that would mean for him. Especially now that he knew that his feelings for Keith were what connected him to Red… Which brought up the question of whether any of his feelings for Allura were what connected him to Blue? 

Shiro had told Lance he was gifted, that his capacity for feeling was what was special about him. So was this also what had made him unique as a Paladin? How he was chosen as a Paladin at all? Was he not the team sharpshooter, but truly Loverboy Lance? That was a cheesy thought. One thing was certain, Lance’s heart had felt so empty before and now it was so full. He’d never felt whole like this. 

That was his last thought before the Komar Robeast self-destructed and everything went dark…

 

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT WORK...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you thank you thank you for reading!!! There will be at least one more work in this series. I'm waiting to watch season 8 to see what I have to work with. I am an optimistic Klancer and I feel like Klance is endgame! Ironically that would make continuing this series more challenging...? I don't care! I'd take it in a heartbeat. No matter what happens, I will end this series with Klance together and happy! You have earned it! We have all earned it, right? 
> 
> TBH my favourite thing is to be backed into a corner and have to write my way out of it so whatever season 8 canon brings, I'm so up for it!
> 
> I highly recommend subscribing to the Beef Keef and Sharpshooter series so you get notified as soon as I post the first chapter of the next work. https://archiveofourown.org/series/1159664 I don't imagine I'll get to it until after Christmas as I'll want to process, but then again I immediately started writing post-season 7 fics so you never know!
> 
> It's been an honour to fly with you all!
> 
> ~BBBK

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Since this series is intended to be Four Parts (at least) please subscribe to the series so you will always receive notifications of updates https://archiveofourown.org/series/1159664


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